Dale Nichols

Private Collection, Arizona (acquired directly from the artist circa 1948)

Thence by descent to the present owner

Pittsburgh, Carnegie Institute, Painting in the United States, 1948, no. 76, (as Midsummer Evening)

(probably) Columbus, Nebraska, Columbus Library Art Gallery, Dale Nichols: Retrospective Exhibit, 1988, p. 38

Dale Nichols was both a working illustrator and successful artist in his lifetime. Beginning his career in Chicago, Nichols focused on depicting scenes of his Nebraska childhood, believing  “that an artist paints best what he has been exposed to during his youth… I think my memory paintings of my home state may be my only creations I sign with full confidence” (quoted in Michael Prodger, “Red Barn Americana,” New Statesman, London, 10 December, 2021 - 6 January, 2022, vol. 150, iss. 5649, p. 112). His paintings were aligned with the tendencies of Regionalism, however, he also infused elements of Freudism and subliminal messaging, creating his own style of Superrealism which operated between regionalism and modernism. (Amanda Mobley Guenther, Dale Nichols: Transcending Regionalism, David City, Nebraska 2011, p. 94). A majority of Nichols’ paintings depict scenes of his Nebraskan youth: an iconic red barn, crops, livestock and farm work throughout the seasons. He “showed an antediluvian America where farm work was wholesome not onerous, where harvests were forever bountiful, and where even the snowdrifts that were his specialty are as billowy as duvets” (Michael Prodger, “Red Barn Americana,” New Statesman, London, England, 10 December, 2021 - 6 January, 2022, vol. 150, iss. 5649, p. 112). His paintings relied on geometric forms to create nostalgic landscapes, exaggerating Nebraska's flat landscape into one of rolling hills and bold color.

A Midsummer's Evening exemplifies Nichols’ style and artistic goals. The painting depicts three men and a herd of sheep walking towards an iconic red barn and farmhouse. The sky is expansive with a focus on color gradients and small details of stars. The moon illuminates the scene, its soft glowing light cascading down from the sky. The background includes the fictitious mountain landscapes which are inspired by Freud’s teachings. Further, a sense of nostalgia is ever present, preserving the memories of youth and the experience of true nature without excess details. Nichols wrote that his realist paintings allowed him to feel “again the vastness of endless skies; experienced again the penetrating cold of Nebraskan winters; lived again as farmers lived” (quoted in Amanda Mobley Guenther, Dale Nichols: Transcending Regionalism, David City, Nebraska, 2011, p. 56). The fresh and exciting provenance is rare for a painting of this caliber.