Washington, DC Landscape by Edgar Nye

Edgar Hewitt Nye (American, 1879-1943)

Oil on artist board, signed lower left and located on paper label on reverse: “Brookland, D.C. (off Bunker Hill Road). Vicinity now a well built up residential section.”

Nye lived, worked and taught in Washington, DC for 58 years. While he may have been born in Richmond, VA, his love for the city earned him the distinction of a "native" son.

Nye was educated in public schools before entering the Corcoran School of Art at age 13. He studied there for eight years before setting off on the requisite European travels. He traveled among England, France and Washington, DC for thirteen years. Along the way, he acquired a wife and a brief education at Oxford.

Once settled in Washington, DC, Nye began to produce the vast body of work by which he is remembered today. Most commonly, Nye painted landscapes and street scenes. A natural outcome of his prolific creativity was participation in numerous exhibitions.

His works were both included in group exhibitions and given total focus in one-man shows. The Washington Watercolor Society, Society of Washington Artists, Society of Independent Artists, Landscape Club of Washington and the Corcoran Gallery of Art were hosts to many of the exhibitions in which he participated. The Society of Washington Artists presented him with many awards during his career. On the year anniversary of his death, the Corcoran Gallery of Art presented a memorial exhibition of his work in recognition of the prominent place he held in the Washington art community.

Today, his work is held domestically in the permanent collections of the National Museum of American Art, Phillips Collection, Georgetown University and the Corcoran Gallery of Art. Overseas, his work is represented in the Plymouth Gallery, England.

Sources: The Artists of Washington, D.C. 1796-1996; McMahan, Virgil E. Who Was Who in American Art; Falk, Peter Hastings. The Capital Image: Painters in Washington, 1800-1915; Cosentino, Andrew J. and Henry H. Glassie. Painting size: 12” x 18”
Frame size: 18.5” x 24.5”