Dale Nichols
(American, 1905-1995)
Guatemalan Landscape
, 1964
oil on canvas
signed Dale Nichols and dated (lower left)
18 x 24 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. The lushness of the landscape and the purity of the native people impressed him immensely.
Guatemalan Landscape, 1964, was painted during this time. The artist’s typical sharp-edged geometric compositions in clear, crisp colors has been softened and muted to depict the hazy, verdant terrain.
