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Spencer Baird Nichols (1875–1950) was an American portrait painter, illustrator and muralist.〔Artists and Architects, National Academy Museum 1083 Fifth Avenue New York, New York 10128 accessed June 4, 2015 http://www.nationalacademy.org/collections/artists/detail/833/〕 Nichols was born to Henry Hobart and Indiana Jay Nichols on February 13, 1875 in Washington, D.C., and attended the Corcoran School of Art. He died August 28, 1950 in Kent, Connecticut.〔Smithsonian Institution -Archives of American Art Spencer Baird Nichols and Nichols family papers, 1870-1994. Accessed 6/27/2015 at http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/spencer-baird-nichols-and-nichols-family-papers-9577〕 While he received much recognition and was quite prolific in his time, much of his creative work was ultimately destroyed, lost or unattributed to him. What survives are a handful of easel paintings and some commercial work, particularly book illustrations and murals. More of his earliest works, signed with just the initials, SBN, may gradually come to public recognition with the help of publications such as this. == Early life and education == Nichols' father, Hobart Nichols, was a noted wood engraver who engraved the sketches in ''The History of North American Birds'' by Baird, Brewer and Ridgeway.〔Baird, S. F., T. M. Brewer, and R. Ridgway. ''A History of North American Birds''. Boston: Little, Brown, 1874.〕 He named his son Spencer Baird Nichols 〔Underhill, Sarah Mollman and Sussman, Barbara J. (2010) ''The Nichols Brothers: A Dialogue in Art and Life'' The Bronxville Historical Conservancy, Inc.〕 after Spencer Fullerton Baird, a naturalist, prolific writer, and first curator of the National Museum at the Smithsonian.〔Smithsonian Institution Archives Spencer Fullerton Baird, 1823-1887 accessed 7/2/2015 from http://siarchives.si.edu/history/spencer-fullerton-baird.〕 Spencer's brother, Henry Hobart Nichols Jr., was a landscape painter. The brothers both married artists and their descendants include painters.〔Fog Hill & Co., Inc. Barbara J. Sussman Biography Accessed 6/9/2015 from http://www.sussmanart.com/pages/BJS/bjbio.html〕 Nichols' childhood was spent in Washington, D.C., and although he dropped out of school at age 11 in order to concentrate on his art, he went on to study under Howard Helmick and to attend the Corcoran School of Art and Design. He also took classes at the Art Students’ League. He met his wife, Helen Agnes Mather, while serving as an instructor there.〔 In 1911 Nichols contracted to provide illustrations to the publishing house Frederick A. Stokes & Co. He also took a position designing stained glass windows and murals for Louis Comfort Tiffany Studios.〔Bronxville Historical Conservancy. (Spencer Baird Nichols (No. 1) ). Accessed June 4, 2015.〕 With these steady incomes, he was able to marry Helen that year. After marriage, Nichols and his wife moved to an artists' colony in Bronxville, New York.〔Buff, Barbara Ball (1989) "Bronxville: The Planned Community as Art Colony" in ''The Artists of Bronxville 1890-1930'', catalogue for Hudson River Museum exhibit October 14, 1989 through January 14, 1990.〕 They had four children, Spencer Mather born 1912, Hobarth born 1915, Margaret in 1921 and Helen in 1924. The Nichols' son Mather died in 1922 of typhoid, which led them to move to Kent, Connecticut, where they were among the founding members of another artist colony.〔 According to the Kent Historical Society “The Kent Art Association was founded in 1923 by nine well established artists who knew each other when they lived in New York before moving to Kent: Rex Brasher, Elliot Clark, Floyd Clymer, F. Luis Mora, George Laurence Nelson, Spencer Nichols, Robert Nisbet, Williard Dryden Paddock and Frederick Waugh. Six were National Academicians.”〔Kent Art Association Founders accessed 6/29/2015 from http://www.kentart.org/founders.html#nichols.〕 The 1932 fire that destroyed the Nichols' uninsured home and studio in Kent consumed all of Nichols' paintings that were there at the time, which were many due to the Depression. The artist colony rallied to support the Nichols family and a new cottage was constructed for them.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Spencer Baird Nichols」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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