Although often remembered as a fashionable portrait painter Nicholson was also a prolific printmaker. He produced more than 200 graphic works, mostly woodcuts and lithographs, during his career and in 1897 made a woodcut of Queen Victoria which really established his fame.
During the same year he worked upon An Illustrated Alphabet, where he honed his skill as an engraver, and shortly afterwards completed An Almanac of Twelve Sports. For the latter he produced 12 woodcuts of individual sports each representing a month of the year. The edition offered here consists of lithographs, after the woodcuts, printed in November 1897.
The Almanac shows Nicholson’s liking for setting strong, simplified forms against relatively blank backgrounds or, as the artist James Whistler stated, … this art of leaving out is proof of the perfect acquaintance with the art of putting in, Mr. Nicholson states the few essential facts, and makes all else accessory.
