Hilda Rix Nicholas (1884–1961) was an Australian artist. After training under leading Heidelberg School painter, Frederick McCubbin, she travelled to Europe in 1907 and studied in both London and Paris. Visiting Tangiers in 1912, she was one of the first Australians to paint post-impressionist landscapes and was made a member of the Société des Peintres Orientalistes Français. During World War I, she met and married Major George Nicholas; she spent only three days with him before he returned to duty and was killed on the Western Front. Returning to Australia, she held an exhibition of over a hundred works in Melbourne's Guild Hall. Many sold, including In Picardy, purchased by the National Gallery of Victoria. Spending the mid-1920s in Europe, she enjoyed significant success and was made an Associate of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts. In 1926, Rix Nicholas returned again to Australia. A staunch critic of modernism, she disdained emerging artists such as Russell Drysdale and William Dobell. She fell out of step with Australian art and her last solo show was in 1947. Her works, which portray an Australian pastoral ideal, are held in most major Australian collections.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilda_Rix_Nicholas

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1604:

Sri Guru Granth Sahib, the religious text of Sikhism, was installed at Harmandir Sahib. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guru_Granth_Sahib

1804:

German astronomer Karl Ludwig Harding discovered one of the largest main belt asteroids, naming it Juno after the Roman goddess. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3_Juno

1914:

The passenger pigeon, which once had a population of at least 3 billion birds, became extinct, when the last individual died in captivity. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passenger_pigeon

1928:

Ahmet Zogu, President of the Albanian Republic, declared the country was now a constitutional monarchy and himself king with the regnal name Zog I. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zog_I_of_Albania

1972:

American chess grandmaster Bobby Fischer became the 11th World Chess Champion when he defeated Russian Boris Spassky in a match that was widely publicized as a Cold War confrontation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Chess_Championship_1972

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

diaperhood: (informal) The period of time for which one wears a diaper as a child; babyhood. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/diaperhood

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

Sometimes I feel like a figment of my own imagination.   --Lily Tomlin https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Lily_Tomlin