A galvanizing arts educator and achieved painter identified for his lush, vivid palette, Nickson can be remembered for his fervent perception within the self-discipline of drawing, which he described as “the most crucial pathway to understanding in art.” Throughout his over 30-year tenure on the Studio College as a college member and dean, he based the celebrated Drawing Marathon — a two-week all-day intensive that has turn into a vital part of the varsity’s curriculum. Because it started in 1988, this system has expanded to incorporate portray excursions to Governors Island, museum and artist studio journeys, and contributors exterior of the full-time pupil physique together with artists, historians, collectors, educators, journalists, and writers.
Graham Nickson, “Concordia” (1972–78) (© Graham Nickson; picture courtesy the Metropolitan Museum of Artwork, New York)
In 2004, Nickson established the Studio College’s Grasp of High quality Arts program, which has delivered 154 Grasp’s levels for the reason that first graduating class. Upon Nickson’s retirement final summer season, he took on the honorary title of Dean Emeritus.
“ Graham was here every day, as our dean and as an extremely dedicated teacher,” Kaitlin McDonough, appearing head of the Studio College and Nickson’s colleague, informed Hyperallergic.
“ His presence permeated the building and all of the programs,” McDonough continued, citing his “ generosity of spirit” that continued till his retirement.
Born in August 1946 in Knowle Inexperienced, Lancashire, Nickson grew up in a household of artists in northwest England. He pursued a proper arts training on the Camberwell School of Arts (previously Camberwell College of Arts and Crafts) and the Royal School of Artwork, the place he acquired his Grasp’s diploma. After two years in Rome, he moved to New York Metropolis in 1976 and joined the Studio College’s school eight years later.
Left: Graham Nickson instructing in spring 1988; proper: the 2016 Drawing Marathon (images courtesy New York Studio College)
It was throughout his first 12 months as a college member that he ushered within the signature “Marathons,” which harkened again to the Studio College’s early days, when its first cohort of scholars held rigorous drawing classes in a Soho loft. This system additionally drew from Nickson’s personal steadfast perception in drawing, which carried all through his instructing profession and private artwork observe.
“ No Marathon that he taught — and he would teach them at least three times a year — was ever exactly like one that came before it,” McDonough mentioned.
“He would present a very wide range of strategies and art historical references and ways of getting into the painting, formally and conceptually, that even very experienced artists would enroll and come back, sometimes 10 times, to refresh their studio practices,” McDonough mentioned.
Along with his impactful work on the Studio College, the place he taught generations of scholars and uplifted the lives and work of numerous artists, Nickson was a devoted visible artist whose work and drawings had been spotlighted in solo exhibitions at quite a few galleries and museums in the USA and overseas. His work, distinctive for his or her saturated colours and thoughtfully rendered figurative scenes, usually depicted beach-goers on densely populated coastlines and close-up portraits of topics in faraway thought.
Portray by Graham Nickson (picture courtesy Betty Cuningham Gallery)
In the present day, his works are held in public collections together with the Dallas Museum of Artwork in Texas, the Metropolitan Museum of Artwork in New York, the Yale College Artwork Gallery in New Haven, and the Nationwide Gallery of Artwork in Washington, DC.
“Graham Nickson will always be an integral part of my life both as a friend and as an art dealer, from his early shows at Hirschl & Adler Modern to his commitment to our gallery on Rivington Street,” veteran New York Metropolis artwork seller Betty Cuningham informed Hyperallergic. Her namesake gallery, which vacated its longtime Decrease East Aspect tackle final spring and now operates on-line, has represented Nickson since 2015.
Graham Nickson instructing the Drawing Marathon in summer season 1992 (picture by Tina Barney, courtesy the New York Studio College)
Within the gallery’s ultimate public exhibition The Final Image Present, she mentioned Nickson’s 2024 acrylic portray “Et in Arcadia” was featured prominently within the “front and center.”
“Graham will continue to be front and center in the minds of all those whose lives he has touched through his work — including mine,” Cuningham mentioned.
