Legacy Article - Marion Nicoll

Legacy Article "The Nicoll Collection"
August – October 1997
by Susan Sax

The Alberta Foundation for the Arts (AFA) Collection of Art will celebrate its 25th anniversary in November 1997.

In this issue, as part of a series of articles on that collection, I look at one of the early significant donations.

In the 1974 Annual Report, W.B. McMullen (Chairman of the AFA Board) noted that "Mr. and Mrs. James L. Nicoll, who are the most ardent promoter[s] for the formation of the Foundation, donated their lifelong private collections to the Foundation. In addition to works of art, the Nicolls bequeathed their entire estate to the Foundation...Many of the items in these two collections are earlier works of now established artists, and works by artists who are now deceased. They are rare and difficult to be bought, and the intrinsic value of them cannot be marked in terms of dollars."

The 76 pieces that make up the Nicoll donation included works, in many media, by such artists as A.C. Leighton, Maxwell Bates, Stanford Blodgett, John K. Esler, John Hall, Walter Drohan, Roy Kiyooka, Ernest Lindner, Luke Lindoe, Thelma Manarey, Janet Mitchell, Katie Ohe, William Panko, W.J. Phillips, Margaret Shelton, Ron Spickett, J.W.G. Macdonald, MANWOMAN, and Inuit prints by Ndordmosk and Niyicaluk. The donation also included a print by Will Barnet (American), a number of Deli Sacilotto pieces (Italian) and two Japanese woodblocks by Sasaki.

Jim and Marion Nicoll (1892-1986; 1909-1985) have been described as "kingpins" of the early Calgary arts community and "pioneers of the modern art movement in Alberta." Marion, known for her bold, simple shapes, has also been called one of "Canada's best abstract painters." Jim, whose work was detailed and realistic, was also an engineer and a poet. The Glenbow Museum published a book of his work. Paintings & Poetry, in 1977 and a book about Marion Nicoll, Marion Nicoll, Art and Influences, in 1986.

The Nicoll Collection was one of a number of early donations to the Alberta Foundation for the Arts Collection. In 1974, 500 pieces of artwork were acquired either through donation or purchase, representing 200 Alberta artists. The first work on the books was the donation The Portrait of Don Getty, but the records also show donations of a number of drawings and an oil sketch by A.Y. Jackson, blockprints by Walter Phillips, The Portrait of Dr. Alexander Calhoun by Ursula Zandmar and works by Illingworth Kerr, Olga Arnold, A.J. Bromfield and Lena Kostinuk.

Susan Sax is Executive Director for Visual Arts Alberta Association, the Provincial Arts Service Organization (PASO) for visual culture in Alberta.