United States. Works Progress Administration Search this
Type:
Sketchbooks
Place of publication, production, or execution:
Other
Physical Description:
1.3 Linear feet; 4 Items, rolled docs
Access Note / Rights:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center. Contact Reference Services for more information.
Summary:
Biographical materials, correspondence, business records, writings, art works, photographs, and printed material.
Biographical material includes ID cards and an autobiographical statement. Correspondence, 1935-1964, includes letters sent to Nickelsen as Supervisor for the WPA Massachusetts Federal Art Project; correspondents include Beaumont Newhall and muralist Elizabeth Tracy. Project files regard mural and stained glass commissions, among them the East Boston murals; Nebraska capitol murals; Springfield, Mass. Museum of Fine Arts library murals; Worcester, Mass. Parcel Post Building murals; and stained glass commissions, ca.1938-1942. Files contain correspondence, art work, including large mural cartoons, reference photographs, photographs of works of art, and printed material. Also included are a list of mural ingredients and notes; business records, 1927-1937; photocopies of articles and writings, 1930-1967; art work by Nickelsen including stained glass rendering and mural drawings by Elizabeth Tracy Montminy; exhibition catalogs, clippings, photographs of Nickelsen and his art work, including one of him painting a window for St. Patricks Church, N.Y. in the Charles Connick Studio, Boston, 1950; and of Montminy and her murals.
Citation:
Ralf E. Nickelsen papers, 1929-1993. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Biography Note:
Stained glass artist; mural painter; Boston, Mass. Born in Hamburg, Germany. Initially studied at the stained-glass studio of his father, John R. Nickelsen, and later went to the State Art School, Hamburg. He came to the United States in 1922 and attended the Art Students' League, N.Y. and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Participated as an artist and as a supervisor on the WPA Art Project in Boston, and was associated with the stained-glass design firm of Charles J. Connick Associates for many years.
Language Note:
English .
Provenance:
Donated 1991-1999 by Nickelsen's widow, Ingeborg R. Nickelsen.
Location Note:
Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, 750 9th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20001
