Dale Nichols

(American, 1905-1995)

Red Barn and Snow

, 1985

oil on canvas

signed Dale Nichols, dated, and inscribed (verso)

32 x 40 inches.

Property from an Important Colorado Collection

Dale Nichols' homeland of Nebraska was a constant inspiration in his art, and he became internationally known for his scenes of vibrant red barns and winter white snow. In 1934, a few years after Grant Wood’s American Gothic took first place at a Chicago Institute of Art competition, Nichols took the same prize with his iconic painting End of the Hunt (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York). With that prize, the artist earned his position as a regionalist painter, along with Thomas Hart, John Steuart Curry, and Grant Wood.

Although the Midwestern landscape would remain his lodestone, Nichols began a peripatetic life when in 1924 he moved to Chicago. After 15 years in that city, he moved to Arizona, where he established an artists’ school. Beginning in the 1950s, the artist roamed between Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi, and Michigan. A long sojourn of 16 years, starting in 1960, saw Nichols settled in Guatemala. An earthquake destabilized Nichols and he again began his wanderings, moving between California, Alaska, and Nevada.

Although he often captured the new landscapes around him, the artist continued to paint scenes of red barns in snow. Nichols first traveled to Wasilla, Alaska in 1937 and continued to visit that harsh wilderness on and off for years to come. Painted in Wasilla, Red Barn and Snow, 1985, portrays the farming landscape of Nichols’ younger years, from the vast sky and bright barn to the undulating snow on the fields and horse-drawn carriage. A calligraphic inscription on the canvas verso acknowledges the artist’s own debt to his first renowned painting, End of the Hunt: “’The play is the thing’/said Shakespeare/Therefore with slight/change in detail (such/as a steel windmill replacing/wood) this genre scene/is the same as the first./Thus it is an encore.” With Red Barn and Snow, Nichols comes full circle, an artist who continuously searched in his paintings to convey a sense of place and awareness of man’s relationship to nature.

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Joseph Stanfield

Senior Vice President, Director, Fine Art

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As the head of Hindman’s Fine Art Department, Mr. Stanfield is instrumental in bringing in major consignments from private collectors, estates, dealers and institutions. He has led the department to dozens of auction records, with a particular focus on Chicago Modernism. Mr. Stanfield has played an integral role in the development of the American & European and Post War & Contemporary Art categories, with the most successful year for the department in company history coming in 2021. He also oversaw a house record for total sales for a week of Fine Art auctions in May 2022. Mr. Stanfield is also the lead auctioneer for the Fine Art sales at Hindman. Prior to returning to Hindman in 2019, he was at Toomey & Co. for eight years, where he oversaw important collections including the estate of Candice B. Groot, the collection of Governor Jim Thompson, and the estate of Robert E. Beck. Mr. Stanfield earned a BA from the University of Kansas where he studied Art History.

Zack Wirsum

SVP, Head of Department, Post War and Contemporary Art

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Mr. Wirsum joined the firm in 2007 as a Fine Art registrar and became a department specialist in 2013, with a focus on Post War and Contemporary art. Through his vision, the department has achieved record breaking prices. Mr. Wirsum evaluates and appraises well over 5,000 works of art each year, collaborating with leading international committees and experts on authentication. Prior to joining Freeman's, Mr. Wirsum served as an assistant director and conservator at the Chicago Conservation Center. He received a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and is a practicing painter with gallery representation.

Monica Brown

Managing Director, Vice President, Fine Art, Head of Department, Prints and Multiples

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Ms. Brown rejoined the firm in 2019 as a senior specialist in the Fine Art department, where she has been the resident expert and Head of Sale for Prints and Multiples. She has over 17 years of art-market experience, most recently as founder of Monica Brown Fine Art. In addition to working for renowned auction houses, she has extensive knowledge in over five centuries of works on paper from her tenure at the Newberry Library in Chicago, and eight years of experience with one of London’s leading dealers of Pop Art editions.

American and European Art

Red Barn and Snow

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