This biography from the Archives of AskART:
|  Born on a ranch near Aromas, California on Aug. 29, 1884, Lillie May
Nicholson graduated from State Normal School in San Jose in 1907 and
then taught school in Hawaii (1908-10) and in Watsonville, CA
(1910-11). In Watsonville she studied watercolor techniques
with L. Minnie Pardee and during the years 1911-16, she was in Japan
where she taught at Kyoto and studied art under J. Taguchi.
After returning to California, she continued her art studies at the
California School of Fine Arts for five years where she was greatly
influenced by Gottardo Piazzoni. During 1921-22 she traveled and
painted in Italy and France.
Her marriage to Paul DeWolf in 1925 lasted only a few years. From
1923-38 she maintained a studio in Pacific Grove and specialized in
coastal scenes and the fishing industry around Monterey. After
closing her studio in 1938, Nicholson moved to Oakland and abandoned
her art career to become an aircraft mechanic at the Alameda Naval Air
Station.
The last 20 years of her life were spent as a resident of the Sutter
Hotel in Oakland where she died on Nov. 28, 1964. Her work was
rediscovered in 1979 when a trunk was found on the family ranch
containing most of her oeuvre.
An Impressionist, her work is characterized by loose brush strokes and
vivid, broken color. Many of her oils were painted on cardboard
12" x 16".
Member:
Carmel Art Association.
Exhibition:
Carmel Arts & Crafts Club, 1923-28
Arizona State Fair, 1927
California State Fair, 1926-28
Santa Cruz Art League, 1928
Monterey Peninsula Museum, 1981 (solo)
Oakland Museum, 1981
UC Santa Cruz, 1985
Santa Cruz Museum, 1986 (retrospective).
Collections:
In: Santa Cruz City Museum
Monterey Peninsula Museum
Oakland Museum | Source:
Edan Hughes, "Artists in California, 1786-1940"
Lillie May Nicholson by Walter Nelson-Rees; Impressionism, The Calif. View; Monterey Peninsula Herald, 4-5-1981. | | Nearly 20,000 biographies can be found in Artists in California 1786-1940 by Edan Hughes and is available for sale ($150). For a full book description and order information please click here. |
This biography from the Archives of AskART:
|  Lillie May Nicholson is noted for her Impressionistic paintings of
coastal landscapes and fishing scenes executed with loose brush strokes
and vivid palette.
Nicholson was born on a ranch in Aromas,
California, in 1884. She graduated from the California State
Normal School, San Jose, in 1907. She taught school in Hawaii
(1908 and 1909), in Japan (1911-1915), and also in Watsonville,
California (1907 and 1910). In Japan she studied art under J. Taguchi,
and in Watsonville she studied watercolor painting with L. Minnie
Pardee. From 1916 to 1921 Nicholson continued her studies at the
California School of Fine Arts in San Francisco where she was greatly
influenced by instructor Gottardo Piazzoni.
In 1921 she
traveled and painted in Italy and France. She returned to
California in 1923 where she opened a studio in Pacific Grove.
There she became a member of the Carmel Art Association and exhibited
at the Carmel Arts and Crafts Club between 1923 and 1928. Her
painting subjects were scenes around her that included the local
fishing industry and the beautiful California coastline.
Nicholson
left her art career behind in 1938 to become an aircraft mechanic at
the Alameda Naval Air Station in the San Francisco Bay Area. She
spent the remainder of her life in the Sutter Hotel in Oakland,
California, where she died in 1964.
Source:
Edan Hughes, Artists in California, 1786-1940
|
| ** If you discover credit omissions or have additional information to add, please let us know at registrar@AskART.com. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|