Everything But Gray: The Life of Audley Dean Nicols

In 1912, Audley Dean Nicols was a successful magazine illustrator, a popular citizen of a Pittsburgh suburb. Then, he heard "a call in the desert." Following that call changed the course of his life and the art of the Desert Southwest.The brilliant light of the desert and its austere beauty "was a revelation to Pittsburgh eyes," Nicols wrote. In meticulous, vivid canvases he became devoted to conveying that revelation. His paintings pioneered a distinctive style of photographic realism in desert landscape painting and sparked a new interest in Southwestern art.Though widely appreciated in his lifetime, Nicols' paintings faded from public view after his death. This book presents the largest assemblage of Nicols' work so far gathered in one place, along with a documented biography. In it, a remarkable artist is brought back into the light"