Patricia Kirkpatrick Nicholson papers

Patricia Kirkpatrick Nicholson papers, 1923-1981

Overview of the Collection

Creator: Nicholson, Patricia Kirkpatrick, 1893-1978
Title: Patricia Kirkpatrick Nicholson papers
Dates: 1923-1981 (inclusive)
19231978
Quantity: 4.33 cubic feet (9 boxes plus 2 microfilm reels (positive and negative))
Collection Number: 2425
Summary: Biographical information, correspondence, diaries, financial records and photographs of a painter of the Pacific Northwest
Repository: University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections
Special Collections
University of Washington Libraries
Box 352900
Seattle, WA
98195-2900
Telephone: 2065431929
Fax: 2065431931
speccoll@uw.edu
Access Restrictions: Open to all users, but access to portions of the papers restricted. Contact repository for details.
Languages: English

Biographical NoteReturn to Top

Patricia Kirkpatrick Nicholson, 1893-1978, known professionally as P.K. Nicholson, was one of a very few major women painters in the Northwest. Her early study and personal association with Mark Tobey during the forties and fifties, was central to her development as an artist. She worked mostly in tempera and oil, in somber tones. Her use of abstract and semi-abstract imagery, often associated with the Northwest, bordered on the "mystical." Two of her most successful series of paintings dealt with religious themes and totemic symbols, probably derived from the Northwest Indians. A later series of paintings, whose principal motif was large sweeping calligraphic symbols, was influenced by her studies of Japanese calligraphy. P.K. Nicholson was an articulate speaker and writer about the aesthetics and philosophy of art. During much of her career she served as a touring Docent for the Seattle Art Museum.

Content DescriptionReturn to Top

Biographical information, correspondence, diaries, financial records, photographs, clippings, and ephemera.

Use of the CollectionReturn to Top

Restrictions on Use

Creator's literary rights transferred to the University of Washington Libraries.

Administrative InformationReturn to Top

Arrangement

Organized into 2 accessions:

Accession No. 2425-001, Patricia Kirkpatrick Nicholson papers, 1923-1971
Accession No. 2425-002, Patricia Kirkpatrick Nicholson papers, 1957-1978

Detailed Description of the CollectionReturn to Top

Accession No. 2425-001: Patricia Kirkpatrick Nicholson papers, 1923-1971Return to Top

4 cubic feet (9 boxes plus 2 microfilm reel (1 positive and 1 negative))

Scope and Content: Biographical information, correspondence, diaries, financial records, photographs. Also included are sketches by Madge Tennent, greeting cards by Mark Tobey, microfilm of Mark Tobey letters, color slides.

Restrictions on Access: Open to all users, but access to portions of the papers restricted. Contact repository for details.

Restrictions on Use: Creator's literary rights transferred to the University of Washington Libraries.

Acquisition Info: Donated by Archives of NW Art, 11/3/1970.

Container(s)		Description	Dates
Box/Folder	Accession
1/1	2425-001	Biographical materials 3 items
1/2	2425-001	A, Miscellaneous incoming letters 13 items	1953, 1956, 1959-1960, 1963, 1970
1/3-4	2425-001	Brenner Setsuko incoming letters 27 items	1960-1967, 1969
1/5	2425-001	Brownlee, Kevin and Shannon incoming letters 19 items	1967
1/6	2425-001	Brownlee, Mickey incoming letters 10 items	1952-1954, 1959
1/7	2425-001	B, Miscellaneous incoming letters 19 items	1950, 1953-1954, 1960-1961, 1963-1965, 1968-1969
1/8	2425-001	Callahan, Kenneth incoming letters 3 items	undated
1/9	2425-001	Callarino, Marian incoming letters 10 items	1948, 1963, 1966, 1968-1969
1/10	2425-001	C, Miscellaneous incoming letters 22 items	1949-1950, 1953, 1957, 1960, 1964, 1968-1970
1/11	2425-001	D, Miscellaneous incoming letters 18 items	1959, 1961-1962, 1965-1967, 1971
1/12	2425-001	Ford, Marion incoming letters 7 items	1937, 1940, 1945-1946, 1959, 1963, 1968
1/13	2425-001	Grilli, Diana and Elsie incoming letters 29 items	1961-1964, 1966-1967
1/14	2425-001	E-G, Miscellaneous incoming letters 39 items	1924, 1950-1951, 1953, 1960, 1962, 1965-1968, 1971
1/15	2425-001	Hallsten, Pehr (Per) incoming letters 44 items	1952-1962
1/16	2425-001	Halsey, Kay incoming letters 7 items	1951-1967
1/17	2425-001	Harrington, La Mar incoming letters 5 items	1963, 1965-1967, 1971
1/18	2425-001	Henry Art Gallery, Seattle incoming letters 3 items	1963-1965, 1968, 1970-1971
1/19	2425-001	Horiuchi, Paul incoming letters 1 item	1967
1/20	2425-001	H, Miscellaneous incoming letters 21 items	1944-1945, 1950, 1957, 1963, 1965-1966
1/21	2425-001	Kimma, Helen incoming letters 23 items	1960-1961
1/22	2425-001	Koping, James incoming letters 7 items	1942-1943, 1945
1/23	2425-001	I-J, Miscellaneous incoming letters 29 items	1948-1949, 1953, 1956, 1959-1961, 1965-1967, 1971
1/24-25	2425-001	Lewis (Nicholson), Carol incoming letters 8 items Scope and Content: See also Nicholson, Carol incoming letters	1947-1948, 1953, 1959, 1961, 1965-1967, 1969-1971
2/1	2425-001	Lewis, Christopher incoming letters 6 items	undated
2/2	2425-001	Lewis, Nick incoming letters 13 items	1959, 1962-1963, 1969-1971
2/3	2425-001	Lewis, Vicki incoming letters 23 items	1952-1953, 1958, 1963, 1966, 1970
2/4	2425-001	L, Miscellaneous incoming letters 22 items	1958, 1963-1966, 1968
2/5	2425-001	Meyhew, Elza incoming letters 13 items	1954, 1960-1962
2/6	2425-001	M, Miscellaneous incoming letters 34 items	1949-1950, 1957, 1963, 1965-1967, 1970-1971
2/7	2425-001	Nicholson, Carol incoming letters 95 items Scope and Content: See also Lewis, Carol incoming letters	1937-1938, 1943
2/8-14	2425-001	Nicholson, Joan incoming letters 10 items	1941, 1956, 1965-1969
2/15-16	2425-001	Nicholson, Mil (Mrs. Carroll - Lena) incoming letters 11 items	1936, 1938, 1946, 1948-1950
2/17	2425-001	Nicholson, Ralph incoming letters 11 items	1923, 1934, 1938, 1943, 1946, 1949
2/18-3/4	2425-001	N-Y, Miscellaneous incoming letters 120 items	1943-1971
3/5-6	2425-001	Unidentified incoming letters 36 items	1922, 1971
3/7	2425-001	Outgoing letters to Nicholson, Ralph 8 items	1943, 1964, 1968, 1970
3/8	2425-001	Outgoing letters to others 36 items	1943, 1954, 1960
3/9	2425-001	Speeches and Writings 1 item
3/10	2425-001	Speeches and Writings by Henry Broderick 5 items
3/11-12	2425-001	Speeches and Writings by Seattle Art Museum Docents 79 items
3/13	2425-001	Speeches and Writings by Mark Tobey 2 items
3/14-15	2425-001	Miscellaneous Speeches and Writings by Others 15 items
3/16	2425-001	Art History notes
3/17	2425-001	Chinese calligraphy notes
3/18	2425-001	Color notes
4/1	2425-001	First Aid notes
4/2	2425-001	Flower Arrangement notes
4/3	2425-001	Painting notes
4/4	2425-001	Short Story Course notes
4/5	2425-001	Mark Tobey notes
4/6-10	2425-001	Miscellaneous notes
4/11-12	2425-001	Notebook 5 items
4/13	2425-001	Loan Agreements 7 items
5/1	2425-001	Lists - Paintings 3 items
5/2-3	2425-001	Prints 9 items
5/4	2425-001	Sketches, Watercolor & Ink (Mark Tobey) 5 items
5/5	2425-001	Sketches by Grace McFarland 14 items
5/6	2425-001	Sketches by Madge Tennent 8 items
5/7	2425-001	Patricia Kirkpatrick Nicholson photographs 31 items
5/8	2425-001	P.K. Nicholson Paintings - photographs 57 items
5/9	2425-001	Brownlee Family photographs 27 items
5/10	2425-001	Dawson Family photographs 5 items
5/11	2425-001	Zoe Dusanne photographs 3 items
5/12	2425-001	Pehr Hallsten photographs 6 items
5/13	2425-001	Lewis Family photographs 5 items
5/14	2425-001	Mark Tobey photographs 12 items
5/15	2425-001	Mark Tobey - paintings (slides) 35 items
5/16-17	2425-001	Miscellaneous photographs 40 items
5/18-20	2425-001	Memorabilia
5/21	2425-001	Certificates 8 items
5/22	2425-001	Newsletters
5/23	2425-001	Programs 10 items
6/1	2425-001	Mark Tobey Notices - Exhibitions
6/2-4	2425-001	Miscellaneous Notices - Exhibitions
6/5	2425-001	Brochure - Sketches - Madge Tennent 1 item
6/6	2425-001	Pamphlets and Brochures 2 items
6/7	2425-001	Art Catalog - Masterpieces from the Berlin Museum
6/8-12	2425-001	Exhibition Catalogs
7/1	2425-001	Patricia Kirkpatrick Nicholson clippings
7/2	2425-001	Patricia Kirkpatrick Nicholson family clippings
7/3	2425-001	Northwest Art clippings
7/4	2425-001	"Oriental" Art clippings
7/5	2425-001	Miscellaneous Art clippings
7/6	2425-001	Henry Broderick clippings
7/7	2425-001	Betty McDonald clippings
7/8	2425-001	Matrix Table clippings
7/9	2425-001	Philosophy clippings
7/10-11	2425-001	Mark Tobey clippings
7/12	2425-001	Miscellaneous clippings
8/1-4	2425-001	The Tiger's Eye periodical 4 items	1947-1948
8/5	2425-001	Miscellaneous periodicals
8/6	2425-001	Henry P. Bowie book - Japanese Painting 1 item
8/7	2425-001	Japanese Calligraphy book
8/8	2425-001	Seattle Art Museum - Japanese Art book 1 item	1960
8/9	2425-001	Miscellaneous books
8/10	2425-001	Ephemera
8/11	2425-001	Art News 44 items	1956-1957
8/12	2425-001	European Seminar	1954
Box
9	2425-001	European Trips - color slides 600 items
microfilm reel 1	2425-001	Incoming Letters from Mark Tobey 80 items	1945-1967

Accession No. 2425-002: Patricia Kirkpatrick Nicholson papers, 1957-1978Return to Top

circa .33 cubic feet

Scope and Content: Biographical features, correspondence, writing, photograph, clippings, ephemera.

Includes two copies, black and white photograph, of a P.K. Nicholson painting owned by the Henry Gallery.

Restrictions on Access: Open to all users.

Restrictions on Use: Creator's literary rights transferred to the University of Washington Libraries.

Acquisition Info: Donated by Archives of NW Art, 1/1/1983.

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Subject Terms

Personal Papers/Corporate Records (University of Washington)
Women artists--Northwest, Pacific

Personal Names

Nicholson, Patricia Kirkpatrick, 1893-1978--Archives

Other Creators

Personal Names
- Hallsten, Pehr, 1897-1965 (creator)
- Tobey, Mark (creator)

Archives West Finding Aid

Table of Contents