American Monotypes from the Baker/Pisano Collection | Page 49

Rhoda Holmes Nicholls (American, b. England,
1854–1930)
On Shinnecock Bay, ca. 1895

Monotype, 5 x 7 7/8 in.
Chazen Museum of Art, gift of D. Frederick Baker from the
Baker/Pisano Collection, 2014.6.10

When William Merritt Chase founded the Shinnecock
Summer School of Art in Southampton on the south fork of
eastern Long Island, he was one of the most important artists
and art teachers in America. He offered classes in oil painting,
landscapes, and portraits. He also hired Rhoda Homes Nicholls
to teach the rudiments of watercolor painting. She was born in
England, and studied at the Bloomsbury School of Art in
London, after which she studied privately with Michele
Cammarano and Achille Vertunni. After moving to the United
States in 1884, she became an active member in several art
organizations, and had her work accepted (and won many
medals) in expositions across the country, from San Francisco
to Boston. Her monotype of Shinnecock Bay attests to the
popularity of