American Art and Pennsylvania Impressionists

Provenance:

Private Collection, Connecticut.

Exhibited:

New York, National Academy of Design, "Annual Exhibition," 1923 (recipient of the Altman Prize).

Lot Note:

Hobart Nichols Jr., born in Washington, D.C. in 1869, received his initial artistic training at the Art Students League of Washington before further studies at the Froebel Institute in Germany and the Académie Julian in Paris. While Nichols explored diverse subjects, he garnered significant recognition for his depictions of winter landscapes, which evince a keen sensitivity to the tonal variations and textural nuances of snow-covered terrain.

Executed in 1923, Mid-Winter depicts a serene, snow-laden scene with a gently flowing stream winding through the foreground and a stone bridge visible in the middle distance, framed by bare trees and patches of remaining foliage. Hobart's brushwork articulates the weight and stillness of winter–indeed, the quiet beauty–of the season. Notably, Mid-Winter was exhibited at the Annual Exhibition of the National Academy of Design, where it was honored with the Altman Prize, a testament not only to its merit but also the esteem in which Nichols's winter views were held.