- Manufactured by
- Unidentified
- Owned by
- Lieutenant Nicolls, Vernon O., American, 1909 - 2003
- Subject of
- Nicolls, Edith, American, 1914 - 2009
- Date
- 1948
- Medium
- marble on velvet with wood, cardboard, metal and pressure-sensitive tape
- Dimensions
- H x W x D: 8 1/16 × 7 1/2 × 1 1/4 in. (20.5 × 19 × 3.1 cm)
- Caption
- Vernon Nicolls was born in Barbados in 1909 and immigrated to the U.S. in 1915. During World War II, while living in Brooklyn, Nicolls enlisted as a Private in the Army at Fort Jay on Governor's Island, New York, in 1942. After graduating from Officer Candidate School, Lieutenant Nicolls served in Italy with the 758th Tank Battalion, the Army's first African American armored unit. According to his family, Lt. Nicolls had this bas-relief made for his wife, Edith, while he was serving in Italy during the war.
- Description
- A framed, marble bas-relief of Edith Nicolls, wife of Lieutenant Vernon O. Nicolls. The relief is has been carved from white marble that has been mounted on a dark red velvet mat. The relief is roughly square in shape and depicts the face, neck and top of the shoulders of Edith Nicolls. Nicolls has her hair up and she is smiling. The relief and mat are housed in a white, gold speckled frame with a gold accented floral motif band decorating the front of the frame. The back of the frame is black coated cardboard with a two way easel stand and a silver-toned sawtooth picture hanger at the top edge. A white sticker attached to back of frame has black, handwritten text that reads, [E[---?] Gloria Nicolls / ROME ITALY / 1948].
- Classification
- Visual Arts
- Type
- bas-reliefs
- Credit Line
- Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Kay L. Nicolls
- Object number
- 2014.142.7
- Restrictions & Rights
- Unknown – Restrictions Possible
- Rights assessment and proper usage is the responsibility of the user.