Burr Halliday Nicholls (American, 1848-1915) noted painter primarily known for his landscapes, marine scenes, Venetian canals and doorways, street scenes, figurative and genre scenes. Nicholls was born on December 8, 1848 into an established family of Lockport, NY. His father was prominent attorney Luman Hubbell Nicholls (1815-1864) and mother Anne Minerva (née Halliday) Nicholls (1820-1913). He had four siblings including Mark Anthony Nicholls (1842-1917), Mary Florence Nicholls-Lewis (Mrs. Robert S. Lewis, 1852-1889), Caroline “Carrie” Lee Nicholls-Olmsted (Mrs. William Howard Olmsted, 1855-1909) and Fred J. Nicholls (1864-1886). Burr Nicholls’ name is often misspelled with only one ‘l’ and is sometimes listed as Burr H. Nichols.
At age eighteen Burr was living in Lockport and working as a “poultry fancier”. He raised, showed and sold, game birds, rare birds, and their eggs, and won first place in the 1867 New York State Fair for his fancy fowl. By 1869 he had his own company called B.H. Nicholls & Co. A skill for drawing and painting barnyard fowl developed from these early interests and those compositions comprise some of his best works.
Burr first studied painting in Lockport, and then in Buffalo, NY in the early 1870’s at the Buffalo Fine Arts Academy under noted painter Lars Gustaf Sellstedt (Swedish-American, 1819-1911). Within a short period of time, Burr began exhibiting his work with the Fine Arts Academy as well as the Brooklyn Art Association. At the same time Burr also studied etching with the well known Buffalo artist Amos W. Sangster (Canadian-American, 1833-1904) who co-founded a small etching club with Burr and artist Hamilton Hamilton (English-American, 1847-1928).
On November 22, 1871, Burr married his first wife, Allie P. (née McConnell) Nicholls (c.1853-1876) of Albion, NY. They resided in Lockport until about 1875, before moving to Albion for a short time. After studying with Sellstedt, Burr maintained his own studio in the Young Men’s Association Building alongside Sellstedt and fellow artists such as Frank Crawford Penfold (American, 1849-1921), Ammi Merchant Farnham (1846-1922), and Albert N. Samuels (American, c.1841-). By the mid 1870’s, Burr was regularly placing ads in local New York journals for painting horse portraits. On February 22, 1876, Burr’s wife Allie died at a young age, after which he traveled to Europe in September of 1877 to study, paint and teach for the next seven years. During that time Burr studied at the École de Beaux-Arts in Paris with Émile-Auguste Carolus-Duran (French, 1837-1917), as well as other masters in England, Italy and Brittany.
By January 4, Burr was residing in Pont-Aven, France, while sending back paintings to be exhibited in New York. From 1880-82 Nicholls worked alongside fellow Lockport artist and expatriate Frank Crawford Penfold. They were the first painters to bring the Pont-Aven art colony in Brittany, France into prominence with artists and tourists. During those years Nicholls exhibited in all three Paris Salons, returning to Europe several times over the course of his career.
While residing in Florence, Italy (some sources say Venice), Burr met his second wife, a well known watercolorist and oil painter, writer and instructor Rhoda Carleton Marian (née Holmes) Nicholls (English- American, 1854-1930). They married in early 1884 at Lyminster Church in Sussex, England and honeymooned in Venice, soon afterward sailing for the United States in the spring of 1884. During the 1890’s their combined reputations caused a media sensation across the United States when in 1898: “…both Burr and Rhoda submitted paintings to the Paris Salon—Rhoda’s was accepted with honorable mention but Burr's was rejected. This triggered a period of marital discontent followed by separation. Their divorce was finalized in 1906 and was reported in many American newspapers. Journalists warned women of the peril of pursuing vocations that put them in competition with their husbands.”[1: Wikipedia “Burr H. Nicholls”] The couple had a daughter, Rhoda Olive Nicholls-Ward (Mrs. Henry Marion Ward, 1887-1974) and a son, noted photographer and writer Arundel “Nick” Holmes Nicholls (1889-1942) both of whom became favored subjects for Rhoda’s works.
Throughout the course of his career, Burr exhibited nationally and internationally including: the Brooklyn Art Association (1871-73, 1879, 1882, 1884 and 1891), National Academy of Design (1873-1895), Paris Salons (1880-82), “Ninth Annual Interstate Industrial Exposition of Chicago”, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (1882-1895), Art Institute of Chicago (1888-89, and 1894), the Boston Art Club, the Buffalo Society of Artists (BSA) and the Pan American Exposition 1901 in Buffalo, NY. He also served on council, as well as the selection and hanging committees for the BSA.
Nicholls maintained various studios and residences including: the Young Men’s Association Building of the Buffalo Fine Arts Academy, 5 Nottingham Court, Buffalo, NY; the Sherwood Building at 58 West 57th St. (corner of 6th Ave. & 57th St.), NYC; D.E. Morgan Building, 534 Main Street, Buffalo, NY; 568 Main Street; Anderson building at Main Street at Huron Streets, Buffalo, NY; the Coal & Iron Exchange Building, 257 Washington St., Buffalo, NY; Ketchum Place and 50 Niagara Street in Buffalo; and 245 High Street, Lockport, NY.
Burr married his third wife, noted painter Josephine “Minnie” (née Lewis) Nicholls (Canadian-American, 1860-1937) of Buffalo, NY, (sister of physician, Dr. Fred Park Lewis (1855-1940). They married December 11, 1906 in a surprise wedding in Pennsylvania and honeymooned in Spain. Josephine studied in New York City with Harry Siddons Mowbray (American, 1858-1928) and George Brant Bridgman (Canadian-American, 1865-1943) and was a member of the Buffalo Society of Artists (treasurer and board member), Guild of Allied Arts, Society of Mineral Painters, Zonta Club, Town Club, and former-president of the Western New York Branch of the League of American Pen Women, as well as a writer and lecturer.
In 1907, Burr and Josephine lived and painted abroad for about nine months, living in Granada, Spain, Morocco, and Pont Aven, France with the intent of staying a year or two. Before leaving, Burr had secured numerous commissions for landscape watercolor paintings in Spain. They eventually settled in Lockport, NY, but did travel back to Spain and Morocco to paint in 1911. The couple later moved to Canaan, CT, where Burr died on May 12, 1915 at the age of sixty-six at a hospital in Stamford. Funeral services were held at the home of his brother Mark A. Nicholls in Lockport, and he is buried in the family plot in Glenwood Cemetery, Lockport, NY.
In 1909, Burr began work on restoring one of the many famous life-size portrait oil paintings of our nation’s first President George Washington (often referred to as the “Lansdowne Portrait”) painted by the renowned artist Gilbert Stuart (American, 1755-1828)—The painting featured Washington standing, advancing towards the spectator, and in his left hand a sword with right hand extended, and in the background there are soft rich red draperies against a column and close to Washington a red chair. In his studio at 245 High Street in Lockport NY, Burr with assistance from his wife Josephine, worked on restoration of the famous portrait. It was speculated that he received close to $50,000 for this restoration project. The painting which was owned by Mr. Richard E. Norton of Philadelphia, PA, was found in an old storage room in a Pennsylvania hamlet near Pottsville, PA where Stuart had lived. The portrait was eventually exhibited in Buffalo in February 10, 1911 and there was talk of it being placed into the Albright Art Gallery, but it was later hung in the library of the Racquet Club of Philadelphia, on the south wall of its big reading room.
Nicholls’ work is in the collections of the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, “Hunting up a Quotation” and “A Group of Fowls”, Buffalo, NY; Burchfield-Penney Art Center, Buffalo, NY; Niagara County Historical Society, five paintings, Niagara Falls, NY; Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, “Sunlight Effect” (1881-82, AKA “Effect of Sunlight”, shown in 1882 Paris Salon), Philadelphia, PA; The Peabody Institute, “The Vegetable Garden”, Baltimore, MD; The Waters Collection, Baltimore, MD; Heckscher Museum on Long Island, NY; Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, PA, and the collection of Andrew Carnegie; Collection of M. Johannot (Paris); Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC; and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC.
Chronology:
1848- Born, December 9, into one of the old families of Lockport, NY, to prominent attorney Luman Hubbell Nicholls (1815-1864) and Anne Minerva (née Halliday) Nicholls (1820-1913), and he had four siblings to include older brother Mark Anthony Nicholls (1842-1917), two younger sisters, Mary F. Nicholls-Lewis (Mrs. Robert S. Lewis, 1852-1889), and Caroline “Carrie” Lee Nicholls-Olmsted (Mrs. William H. Olmsted, 1855-1909) and youngest brother Fred J. Nicholls (1864-1886).
1864- September 2, Burr’s father Luman H. Nicholls died, and is buried in the family plot in Glenwood Cemetery, Lockport, NY.
1867- By the age of eighteen, Burr was living in Lockport and worked as a ‘Poultry Fancier’ where he raised and sold ‘fancy fowls’, various game birds and rare birds, as well as selling eggs. He even won First Place in the 1867 New York State Fair for his fancy fowl.
By 1869- Burr had his own company B.H. Nicholls & Co. and continued to work as a Poultry Fancier through the late 1870’s, and is where he developed his early love and later honed his skill for painting barnyard fowl and homely barnyard scenes, which bore a great attraction for him and comprised some of his best work.
Circa early 1870’s- Nicholls studied painting first in Lockport, NY, then in Buffalo, NY with noted artist Lars Gustaf Sellstedt (Swedish-American, 1819-1911) in the Buffalo Fine Arts Academy Young Men’s Association Building located at 5 Nottingham Court. Burr also studied etching with Amos W. Sangster (Canadian-American, 1833-1904) who co-founded an etching club with Burr and noted artist Hamilton Hamilton (English-American, 1847-1928) out of Sangster’s studio in Buffalo, which only had about five members at the beginning. During this period, Burr soon maintained his own studio in the Young Men’s Association Building alongside Sellstedt and fellow artists such as Frank Crawford Penfold (American, 1849-1921), Ammi Merchant Farnham (1846-1922), and Albert N. Samuels (American, c.1841-).
1871- November 22, Burr married his first wife, Allie P. (née McConnell) Nicholls (c.1853-1876) of Albion, NY, and they resided in Lockport, NY until about 1875.
From 1871-1873- Exhibited, group shows, Brooklyn Art Association, Brooklyn, NY. Also maintained a studio in New York City.
1872- Burr’s sister Mary Florence Nicholls married Robert S. Lewis (1838-aft. 1910) in Lockport, NY and the couple later settled in Rochester, NY.
From 1873-1895- Exhibited, group shows, National Academy of Design, NYC.
1874- Exhibited, group show, Buffalo Fine Arts Academy, Young Men’s Association Building, 5 Nottingham Court, Buffalo, NY.
1875- Burr was advertising to paint horse portraits while living in Lockport, NY. Burr and Allie later resided in Albion, NY.
1876- February 22, Burr’s first wife Allie P. Nicholls (c.1853-1876) died at the age of twenty-three in Lockport, NY, and is buried in the family plot in Glenwood Cemetery, Lockport, NY. November, Burr was still listed as a ‘Poultry Fancier’.
From 1877-1884- September 15, 1877, Burr sailed for Europe from NYC to paint, study and teach for the next seven years. During this time he studied at the École de Beaux-Arts with Émile-Auguste Carolus-Duran (French, 1837-1917), as well as with other masters in England, Italy and Brittany.
1879- By January 4, Burr was residing and painting in Pont-Aven, France. Exhibited, group show, Brooklyn Art Association, Brooklyn, NY. November 11, Burr’s sister Carrie Lee Nicholls married William Howard Olmsted (1850-1887), at her mother’s home in Lockport, NY.
From 1880-82- Nicholls worked alongside fellow Lockport artist and expatriate Frank Crawford Penfold (American, 1849-1921), who were the first painters to bring the Pont-Aven art colony in Brittany, France, into prominence with artists and tourists. During those three years Nicholls exhibited in all three Paris Salons, with paintings to include: “Le Vieux Foyer” (shown in 1880 Salon); “The Cabbage-seller” (shown at 1881 Salon); “Sunlight Effect” and “Old House at Pont-Aven (Finistère)” (shown in the 1882 Salon).
1881- September 7-October 22, exhibited, group show, “Ninth Annual Interstate Industrial Exposition of Chicago”, watercolor shown, Chicago, IL.
1882- December, exhibited, group show, Brooklyn Art Association, Brooklyn, NY. December, exhibited, group show, Vassar Institute at Poughkeepsie, for the painting “on The River Loing”, Poughkeepsie, NY.
From 1882-1895- Exhibited, group shows (seven times), Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA.
1883- Nicholls worked in Venice and Florence, Italy while residing in Florence where he later met his future wife Rhoda Marian Holmes (English-American, 1854-1930).
1884- Burr married his second wife, Rhoda Marian (née Holmes) Nicholls (English-American, 1854-1930) at Lyminster Church in Sussex, England, and they honeymooned in Venice. They sailed for the United States in the spring of 1884 arriving in New York City where they resided until 1898 (when the couple separated). Exhibited, group show, Brooklyn Art Association, Brooklyn, NY. June 5-?, exhibited, group show, “Twenty-second Annual Exhibition of the Buffalo Fine Arts Academy, for the painting of a Scandinavian scene titled “Feeding Her Pets”, Buffalo, NY. December, Burr began teaching painting classes out of his studio in New York located in the Sherwood Building at 58 West 57th St. (corner of 6th Ave. & 57th St.), NYC.
December 16, 1884-June 2, 1885- Exhibited, group show, “The World’s Fair: The World’s Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition”, for the painting “Sunny Hours”, New Orleans, LA.
1886- February 17, Burr’s younger brother Fred J. Nicholls died suddenly of congestion of the brain while in Deming, New Mexico where he worked in the cattle business and owned a ranch called the “China Spring Ranche” near Hachita, NM, and he is buried in the family plot in Glenwood Cemetery in Lockport, NY.
1887- October 23, Burr & Rhoda’s daughter Rhoda Olive Nicholls-Ward was born, NYC. December 18, Carrie’s husband William H. Olmsted (1850-1887) suddenly died in Rochester, NY, and he is buried in Machpelah Cemetery, Le Roy, NY. Burr’s studio was still located in the Sherwood Building at 58 West 57th St. (corner of 6th Ave. & 57th St.), NYC. Exhibited, group show, Under the Auspices of the Society for the Promotion of Art exhibition, Eden Musée, 23rd Street, New York.
From 1888-89- Exhibited, group shows, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL.
1889- March 6, as a member, Burr contributed two paintings “Street Scene, Brittany” and “By the River Side”, to the “Twenty-eighth Sale of the Artists’ Fund Society”, Fifth Avenue Galleries, Manhattan, NY. May 23, Burr’s sister Mary Florence Nicholls-Lewis died after being in failing health for months, Rochester, NY, and a brief funeral service was held at their home at 61 East Ave. in Rochester with Rev. Dr. Anstice officiating, as well as at her brother Mark A. Nicholls home in Lockport, and she was buried in the family plot in Glenwood Cemetery in Lockport, NY. May 28, Burr & Rhoda’s son Arundel “Nick” Holmes Nicholls was born, Ellenville, NY.
1890- Exhibited, group show, “60th Annual Exhibition of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts”, painting “An Old Window, Brittany” (No. 144), Philadelphia. PA. May?-June 4, exhibited, group show, for the painting “A Street Scene in Brittany”, which also sold, for $175-, Art Club of Rochester, NY. Was still residing in New York City at 229 E. 20th Street.
1891- Exhibited, group show, Brooklyn Art Association, Brooklyn, NY. Exhibited, group show, Society for the Promotion of Art exhibition, Eden Musée, 23rd Street, New York.
From 1891-1895- Exhibited, group shows, Boston Art Club, Boston, MA.
1892-93- Was residing at 334 East 17th Street, NYC.
1893- March 14-16, exhibited, group show, “Exhibit & Auction”, Fifth Avenue Art Galleries, NYC. At some point that year, Burr and his wife lived in a “cozy” home at West 50th Street in Manhattan and both had studios on the top floor, NYC.
1894- Exhibited, group show, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL. April 20, exhibited, group living theatre show, “Tableau Vivants”, for the Washington Heights Branch of the Y.M.C.A. under the auspices of the Women’s Auxiliary, with tableaux vivant of Burr H. Nicholls painting “The Cottage Door”, 155th Street & Tenth Avenue, Manhattan, NYC.
1895- Exhibited, group show, National Academy of Design, NYC.
1896- Nicholls and his wife Rhoda were still residing in their West 50th Street home in New York City with their daughter and son, who became favored subjects for her works. March 1-14, exhibited, group show, “The Fourth Annual Exhibition of the Bohemian Sketch Club of Buffalo”, sixteen oil paintings of Brittany and Venice shown by Nicholls as a new member of the Club, Gallery of the Fine Arts Academy, Buffalo, NY.
1897- Exhibited, group show (Honorable Mention), Paris Salon, his painting was hung ‘On the Line’, Paris, France.
1898- Burr and the family were residing at 913 Seventh Avenue, NYC. April, exhibited, group show, “Fifth Annual Exhibition of The Artists’ Club of Colorado”, for the oil painting “Scene in Venice”, Denver, CO. The couple’s marriage became contentious when one of Rhoda’s works was accepted and given ‘Honorable Mention’ at the Paris Salon, but Burr's work was rejected. Burr and Rhoda later separated and she took the children (their divorce was finalized by September 18, 1906). Around this time, Burr moved back to Lockport, NY where he shared a home with his mother. Rhoda continued to live in New York City with the children, and also maintained a studio in East Gloucester, MA, before later moving to Stamford, CT where she died in 1930.
1899- April 7-21, exhibited, solo show, America, Venetian and Breton scenes, held in the Rooms of the Buffalo Society of Artists, Library Building, Buffalo, NY. May 13-27, exhibited, “Eighth Annual Exhibition of the Buffalo Society of Artists”, the Society’s rooms at the Buffalo Public Library, Buffalo, NY.
1900- Exhibited, group show, Buffalo Fine Arts Academy, Albright Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY. Maintained a studio in the D.E. Morgan Building, 534 Main Street, Buffalo, NY.
1901- February 8-, exhibited, solo show, forty-five paintings of landscape, Venetian scenes and marines were shown to include “On The River”, “A Mountain Road”, “A Old House, Pont Aven”, “A Winding Road”, “A Country Road”, “The Old Homestead”, “A Water Gate–Venice”, “A Shady Corner–Venice”, “Entrance to a Calle–Venice”, “Venetian Balcony”, and “Peaches”, from his studio at 568 Main Street, Buffalo, NY. April, exhibited, group show, for the painting “The Entrance to a Courtyard in Venice”, Eastman Building Gallery of the Mechanics Institute, Rochester, NY. Exhibited, group show, “Fine Arts Exhibition of the Pan American Exposition”, several works shown to include “A Street Scene in France” and “A Quiet Corner, Venice”, Buffalo, NY. November 8, Burr was honored by being elected to the committee to revise the Constitution of the Buffalo Society of Artists along with fellow artists Louis W. Simpson and Mary B. Cox. Exhibited, group show, Buffalo Society of Artists, the Society’s rooms at the Buffalo Public Library, Buffalo, NY.
Circa 1901-1902- Burr had a studio in the Anderson building at Main Street at Huron Streets, Buffalo, NY.
1902- March 10-24, exhibited, group show, “Ninth Annual Exhibition of the Buffalo Society of Artists”, for several paintings to include “A Long Island Road” and a portrait “Harry M. Nicholls” as well scenes from Brittany, Venice and a small painting of chickens, held in the Society’s rooms at the Buffalo Public Library, Buffalo, NY. May 11, Burr moved into his new studio in the Coal & Iron Exchange Building, 257 Washington St., Buffalo, NY.
From 1902-c.1904- Burr had an art studio in the Coal & Iron Exchange Building in Buffalo, NY. March 10-, exhibited, group show, “Ninth Annual Exhibition of the Buffalo Society of Artists”, five paintings shown, the Society’s rooms at the Buffalo Public Library, Buffalo, NY.
1903- April 3, exhibited, group show, “Paintings from the Collection of well-known art patron Mr. Charles D. Marshall”, curated by artist Reginald Cleveland Coxe, held in the room of the Buffalo Society of Artists, Library Building, Buffalo, NY. May 4-18, exhibited, group show, “Tenth Annual Exhibition of the Buffalo Society of Artists”, two paintings shown “A Sunny Road, Gloucester, Mass.” and “Barn Door Fowls”, the Society’s rooms at the Buffalo Public Library, Buffalo, NY. December 2-9, exhibited, solo show, about fifteen paintings shown including Venetian scenes, Twentieth Century Club, Buffalo, NY.
1904- April 5-15, exhibited, solo show, at his studio in the Coal & Iron Exchange Building, Buffalo, NY. Burr traveled to Quebec, Canada to sketch and paint. October 17-22, exhibited, group show, “Annual Loan and Sale of the Newspaper Artists’ Association and the Book and Magazine Illustrators’ Society”, a number of charming oil paintings by Nicholls were shown to include Venetian doorways and Chickens, Iroquois Hotel, Buffalo, NY. Exhibited, group show, “Grand Bazar for St. Vincent’s Orphan Asylum”, Convention Hall and Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY.
1905- October, exhibited, solo show, sketches from his trip to Quebec, Canada in the summer of 1904, held in the rooms of the Buffalo Society of Artists, Library Building, Buffalo, NY.
1906- January 9-February 11, exhibited, group show, “The Buffalo Artists’ Exhibit”, Three works shown to include “A Bit of Venice”, and “The Green Door” and “A Gothic Door” (sold), Gallery XIV & XV, Albright Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY. April, exhibited, group show, six paintings, St. Louis, MO. September 18, his divorce from his second wife Rhoda Nicholls was finalized. Was residing at 50 Niagara Street, Buffalo, NY. December 11, in a surprise wedding, Burr married his third wife in a Pennsylvania town, noted painter Josephine “Minnie” (née Lewis) Nicholls (1860-1937) of Buffalo, NY, sister of the well known physician, Dr. Park Lewis and they soon left on December 15 out of new York City for Spain on their honeymoon, where they intended to stay for the next two years.
From January 12-October 6, 1907- Burr and Josephine lived and painted abroad in Granada, Spain, Morocco, and Pont Aven, France with the intent of staying for maybe a year or two. Before leaving, Burr had secured numerous commissions mostly for landscape watercolor paintings in Spain, and the couple sailed January 12, aboard the S.S. Canopia. They eventually settled in Lockport, NY.
1909- March 23, Burr’s sister Carrie Lee Nicholls-Olmsted died and is she buried in the family plot in Glenwood Cemetery, Lockport, NY. Burr maintained his studio at 245 High Street in Lockport, NY. April 30-May 9, exhibited, solo show, in the galleries of the William Hengerer Co., Buffalo, NY.
From Circa the end of September 1909-December 10, 1909- Burr worked on restoring one of the famous life-size portrait oil paintings (copy) of our nation’s first President and Founding Father George Washington “Lansdowne Portrait”, originally painted by the renowned painter Gilbert Stuart (American, 1755-1828)—The painting featured Washington standing, advancing towards the spectator, and in his left hand a sword with right hand extended, and in the background there are soft rich red draperies against a column and close to Washington a red chair. From his studio at 245 High Street in Lockport, NY, Burr, with assistance by his wife Josephine, worked on restoring the famous portrait and it was speculated that he would receive close to $50,000 for his restoration work. The painting which was owned by Mr. Richard E. Norton of Philadelphia, PA, was found in an old storage room in a Pennsylvania hamlet near Pottsville, PA where Stuart used to live. The painting was eventually exhibited in Buffalo in February 10, 1911 and there was talk of it being placed into the Albright Art Gallery, but was later placed into the Racquet Club of Philadelphia in the library, on the south wall of the big reading room in the ‘place of honor’ to the right of the Carroll Sargent Tyson (American, 1877-1956) portrait of ex-President James Potter.
1911- February 10, Burr loaned the life-size painting of George Washington that he had restored to the Twentieth Century Club in Buffalo, NY, for their costume tea social of the Buffalo Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, held in the music room and gallery.
Circa 1911-12- Burr and his wife again traveled and painted in Spain and Morocco.
1912- May 8-?, exhibited, solo show featuring paintings from his recent travels to Spain and Morocco, Johnston-Kurtz Galleries, 151-55 Franklin Street, Buffalo, NY.
From 1912-1915- Burr exhibited exclusively at the Johnston-Kurtz Company Galleries, 151-55 Franklin Street, Buffalo, NY.
1913- February 26, Burr’s mother Ann M. Nicholls died at the St. Francis Home for the Aged in Gardenville, NY, with her funeral held Friday, February 28, from the home of her grandson Henry M. Nicholls 251 Genesee St., and she is buried in the family plot in Glenwood Cemetery, Lockport, NY. By May 4, Burr and his wife had moved from their house in Lockport and were residing at 4 St. Johns Place, Buffalo, NY. December, Burr and his wife left Lockport with plans to establish a studio in New York City, but soon after ill health befell him and they later settled in New Canaan, CT. around November 1914.
From Circa November 1914-May 1915-, Burr and his wife resided in their new home at New Canaan, CT.
1915- Died, May 12, at the age of sixty-six at a hospital in Stamford, CT., where he and his wife had made their home for the last six months in New Canaan, CT. Funeral services were held at the home of his brother Mark A. Nicholls in Lockport with the Rev. Henry F. Zwicker rector of the Grave Episcopal Church who conducted the services, and he is buried in the family plot in Glenwood Cemetery, Lockport, NY. December 6-13, exhibited posthumously (by Mrs. Burr H. Nicholls), group show, The Artists & Illustrators’ Club of Buffalo, NY, at Hotel Iroquois, Buffalo, NY.
1917- Burr’s brother Mark A. Nicholls died and is buried in the family plot in Glenwood Cemetery, Lockport, NY.
1921- February 7-26, exhibited, posthumous show, Albright Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY.
1930- September 7, Burr’s second wife Rhoda Holmes-Nicholls died at the age of seventy-six at Hotel Hazelton, Stamford, CT, as the result of the osteoarthritis that had made her an invalid for the last 10 years of her life, and she is buried in Spring Grove Cemetery, Darien, CT (alongside daughter Olive Nicholls-Ward).
1937- July 17, Burr’s third wife Josephine Nicholls died at the age of seventy-seven, Buffalo, NY.
1942- February 1, son Arundel Holmes Nicholls died, Manhattan, NYC.
1969- December 7-?, exhibited, group show, “Primitives and More”, Niagara County Historical Center, Lockport, NY.
1973- November 26-December 8, exhibited, group show, twenty-five oil paintings by Nicholls included in show, Tom Jackson Designs Inc., 341 West Ave., Lockport, NY.
1974- April 13, daughter Rhoda Olive Nicholls-Ward died, Morrisville, VT, and she is buried alongside her mother in Spring Grove Cemetery, Darien, CT.
1987- March 28-May 24, exhibited, group show, “The Wayward Muse: A Historical Survey Of Painting In Buffalo”, Susan Krane curator, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY.
Exhibited Other: Albright Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY; Dudley Museum and Art Gallery, Dudley, West Midlands, England; Grosvenor Gallery, London, England; Chicago Interstate Industrial Expositions;
Awards/Honors: Honorable Mention, Paris Salon, his painting was hung ‘On the Line’, Paris, France (1897); First Place (Premium) New York State Fair, for his ‘Fancy Fowl’.
Memberships/Associations: National Academy of Design, NYC; Buffalo Society of Artists, Buffalo, NY; Buffalo Fine Arts Academy, Albright Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY.; Buffalo Historical Society, Buffalo, NY; The Artists & Illustrators’ Club of Buffalo, NY (President); Member of an Etching Club (early 1870’s), Buffalo, NY; The Art Club of Rochester, NY; Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA; Artists’ Fund Society, Manhattan, NY; Brooklyn Art association, Brooklyn, NY; Boston, Art Club, Boston, MA; Bohemian Sketch Club, Buffalo, NY; The Artists’ Colony at Pont-Aven, Brittany, France.
Collections: Burchfield-Penney Art Center, Buffalo, NY; Albright-Knox Art Gallery, “Hunting up a Quotation” and “A Group of Fowls”, Buffalo, NY; Niagara County Historical Society, five paintings, Niagara Falls, NY; Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Art, “Sunlight Effect” (1881-82, AKA “Effect of Sunlight”, shown in 1882 Paris Salon), Philadelphia, PA; The Peabody Institute, “The Vegetable Garden”, Baltimore, MD; The Waters Collection, Baltimore, MD; Heckscher Museum on Long Island, NY; Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, PA, and the collection of Andrew Carnegie; Collection of M. Johannot (Paris); Smithsonian Institution, thirty-two listings of paintings, Washington, DC; Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC.
Publications: USAir Magazine, “Drawing On America: Portraits narrate a nation’s past.”, cover painting (untitled scene of ‘Girl Feeding Doves, Brittany, France’ 1881-82) by Burr H. Nicholls, November, 1992; The Buffalo Artists’ Register, “A Reminder of Burr H. Nicholls (1848-1915)”, with interior painting “Near Central Park” (NYC, 1886), Pg. 124, Volume 1, 1926.
For additional information on this artist or for other examples of his works, please visit the AskArt link
(Written & compiled by Mark Strong of Meibohm Fine Arts Inc., East Aurora, NY, meibohmfinearts.com, sources: Too long to list here and are furnished upon request.)
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