DOI Heft:
No. 371 (February 1924)
DOI Artikel:Quigley, Jane: The paintings of Bertram Nicholls
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21399#0091
THE PAINTINGS OF BERTRAM NICHOLLS
"STILL LIFE.” BY
BERTRAM NICHOLLS
Tower was acquired for the National
Gallery of Canada in 1922. One of his
paintings at last year’s R.A.—Stopham
Bridge—was bought by Sir Robert
Younger, and Mr. Croal Thomson has
since purchased Steyning Church. Another
work hangs in Worthing Art Gallery, and
others have been purchased by private
collectors. Thus an artist is encouraged
during those critical years of early success,
when recognition means so much. One
may safely prophesy that for Bertram
Nicholls the critical years are over. Con-
vinced of his own aims he has continu-
ously worked towards the goal. Now he
has arrived, and his success will be no
mere flash in the pan. His work is too
firmly based on the eternal verities of art
to fear the future. 0000
As to his methods of work, it seems that
this artist's method consists of making
many preliminary studies, in pencil, of a
subject which interests him, the actual
painting being carried out indoors. His
work is direct in the sense that it is sincere
and carefully observed, but the direct
73
the War he marriedandsettled at Steyning,
where he still lives. He has lately been
made president of the Manchester
Academy of Art, and frequently visits his
native town. But the charm which Sussex
holds for many of us has cast its spell upon
this artist. He feels a strong affinity with
its landscape. The silvery quality of light,
as of a country newly washed by rain, is
no less characteristic of Sussex than its
sweep of sky, and its white, winding
roads. This silver quality is implicit in
much of Mr. Nicholls’s work, especially in
the water-colours. For a man of his tem-
perament, passionately believing in tradi-
tion, and detached from feverish art move-
ments, the tranquil countryside is best.
He is an exceptionally slow worker, and
likes to live in close relations with his
subjects. 0000a
If Bertram Nicholls has never known
the desperate struggle with circumstances
which so many artists have had to undergo,
he has had his anxieties. But Fortune has
favoured him since the small painting
Drying the Sails was bought by the
Chantrey Bequest in 1921 and Swanage
BERTRAM NICHOLLS
(National Gallery of Canada)
** SWANAGE TOWER/* BY
"STILL LIFE.” BY
BERTRAM NICHOLLS
Tower was acquired for the National
Gallery of Canada in 1922. One of his
paintings at last year’s R.A.—Stopham
Bridge—was bought by Sir Robert
Younger, and Mr. Croal Thomson has
since purchased Steyning Church. Another
work hangs in Worthing Art Gallery, and
others have been purchased by private
collectors. Thus an artist is encouraged
during those critical years of early success,
when recognition means so much. One
may safely prophesy that for Bertram
Nicholls the critical years are over. Con-
vinced of his own aims he has continu-
ously worked towards the goal. Now he
has arrived, and his success will be no
mere flash in the pan. His work is too
firmly based on the eternal verities of art
to fear the future. 0000
As to his methods of work, it seems that
this artist's method consists of making
many preliminary studies, in pencil, of a
subject which interests him, the actual
painting being carried out indoors. His
work is direct in the sense that it is sincere
and carefully observed, but the direct
73
the War he marriedandsettled at Steyning,
where he still lives. He has lately been
made president of the Manchester
Academy of Art, and frequently visits his
native town. But the charm which Sussex
holds for many of us has cast its spell upon
this artist. He feels a strong affinity with
its landscape. The silvery quality of light,
as of a country newly washed by rain, is
no less characteristic of Sussex than its
sweep of sky, and its white, winding
roads. This silver quality is implicit in
much of Mr. Nicholls’s work, especially in
the water-colours. For a man of his tem-
perament, passionately believing in tradi-
tion, and detached from feverish art move-
ments, the tranquil countryside is best.
He is an exceptionally slow worker, and
likes to live in close relations with his
subjects. 0000a
If Bertram Nicholls has never known
the desperate struggle with circumstances
which so many artists have had to undergo,
he has had his anxieties. But Fortune has
favoured him since the small painting
Drying the Sails was bought by the
Chantrey Bequest in 1921 and Swanage
BERTRAM NICHOLLS
(National Gallery of Canada)
** SWANAGE TOWER/* BY