Historical Background

Barbara J. Sussman is a fourth generation American artist. Her great grandfather, Henry Hobart Nichols, was a wood engraver who made engravings of Powell’s exploration of the Colorado River, and completed a two volume set of books, North American Birds with the ornithologist Spencer Baird, and documented the Civil War working and living in Washington, D.C. , along with his wife , engraver, Indiana Jay Nichols. Their two children, Hobart Nichols (President of the National Academy of Art) and Spencer Nichols (Chief Designer of Tiffany) became prominent artists. Spencer Nichols taught art at the Corcoran School of Art in Washington, D.C. and married his student, Helen Mather Nichols. Helen Mather Nichols’ family were early American homesteaders. Spencer and Helen taught art at the Kent Art Association and together founded the Kent Art Association in Kent, CT. Their daughter, Helen Nichols Jacobs, Barbara’s mother, became an award winning painter in the New York and New Jersey regions. She taught painting at the Ridgewood Art Association in Ridgewood, NJ. A Four Generational Show was organized in 1978.