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Charles A. Nicolai (1856-1942) Indiana Artist

Charles A. Nicolai, (C.A. Nicolai) is part of Indiana art history royalty.  In William Gerdts' colossal book edition, "Art Across America," Gerdts' chapter on Indiana discusses Nicolai.  Gerdts points out that Nicolai was part of the Brown County art group, the last living member of the Bohemian Club (Bohe Club) and was a member of the prestigious Portfolio Club that was instrumental in bring modern art lectures to Indianapolis.  Beyond this famous publication, Nicolai was listed in the 1925 edition of Who is Who in American Art and now resides in Who Was Who in American Art.

Nicolai studied under John Washington Love.  Love was extensively trained, including; National Academy of Design (NYC), and Ecole des Beaux-Arts (Paris).  His cosmopolitan education was influential upon returning to Indiana, where he worked on setting up the first Indiana School of Art and was instrumental in forming the Indiana Art Association, which held the first Indianapolis art exhibits.  Love brought home the concepts of the French Barbizon school, which included dark tones, loose broken brushstrokes, and the admiration of the outdoor-rural landscape.

Love died at the age of thirty, and the Indiana School of Art closed.  After the school closed, the most talented of the students - William Forsyth, Fred Hetherington, Thomas Hibben, Charles Fiscus, Will Ebbert, Frank Scott, and Charles Nicolai - formed the Bohemian, or Bohe Club.  This club did indoor sketching and took trips into the country. 

Likewise, Theodore Clement Steele was a larger than life influence on Indiana art.  Steele came from a different art tradition than Love.  Steele's overseas training came from the Royal Academy in Munich.  At times the Indiana artists that studied abroad were in conflict on which art philosophy and concepts were better, the French Barbizon or the German naturalism/realism.  Overtime with Steele's return to Indiana, he becomes what is now described as an Indiana Impressionist with a Germanic artistic heritage. 

Nicolai was attracted to the Barbizon ideals of the rural landscape that were so popular in France.  Many saw it as the rejection of industrialization that was taking place in the second half of the 19th Century.  So Nicolai joined the famed Theodore Clement Steele in Brown County for its rural primitive terrain as well as the companionship of two other Indiana artists, William Forsyth and Fred Hetherington.  Near Belmont and Nashville, Nicolai recorded the rugged, yet scenic landscape.  Brown County in the early 1900's became the Midwest's summer art colony.

Nicolai's brushstrokes are reflective of the French Barbizon School ideals.  In the "Indiana Elm" below, Nicolai is capturing Indiana's peak fall season filled with golden and yellow leaves.  The creek bed is still wet and reflects the surrounding seasonal glory, and the ground is still bursting forth green grass.  Here Nicolai uses pure colorism in the bright outdoor light and broken brushstrokes.     

Watercolor on Paper
Approx:  14.5" X 20.5"
Signed Lower Left:  C. A. Nicolai

Today, Nicolai has two works in the collection of the Indianapolis Museum of Art.  One is a charcoal and the other a landscape watercolor.  Most of Nicolai's career he was noted for being an expert wood engraver/photo-engraver, and in this regard, he was sometimes categorized as a commercial artist.  According to the Indianapolis Star, Nicolai died in the Chicago Ravenswood Hospital after a terrible fall.

Signature Example
Signed Lower Left Corner in Block Letters

 
Footnote:  Nicolai's great granddaughter wrote on askArt - "In October of 1891, Charles Nicolai joined Fred Hetherington of Indianapolis for a sketching trip into Brown County via Morgantown. Nicolai, a wood engraver, had also traveled with T.C. Steele during the summer of 1876, when the pair visited the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition to view the international collection of art. An Indianapolis native, Nicolai studied under John Love in Indianapolis and was a member of the Indiana Artists Club and the Bohe Club." (Indianapolis Star Magazine.) 



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