Catherine Maude Nichols exhibition at Norwich Castle Museum

Work by Catherine Maude Nichols, including evocative views of the city and etchings of Norfolk reed beds, is going on show at Norwich Castle Museum.

Museum curators say the art of the Norwich-born woman, who lived in Surrey Street for her whole life from 1847 to 1923, deserves to be far better known.

Photograph of Catherine Maude Nichols (Image: Norwich Castle Museum)

Nichols was particularly accomplished at producing drypoint prints. That is a technique which involves scratching a line into a metal plate, adding ink, covering it with a sheet of damp paper and then putting it through a press.

The talent led her to become only the third woman to be elected a Fellow of the Society of Painters-Etchers, and she exhibited her work in Norwich, around the UK and abroad.

View of Norwich by Catherine Maude Nichols (Image: Norwich Castle Museum)

Dr Giorgia Bottinelli, curator of art at Norwich Castle, said: "Catherine Maude Nichols was an extremely talented artist who deserves to be better known.

"Her accomplished drypoints in particular are remarkable – some are large and very detailed, others are tiny and treated like quick pencil sketches, but all of them are superb.

"It was a great privilege to discover her work as I researched this exhibition and I am thrilled to be able to share it with Norwich Castle's audience."

Strangers' Hall by Catherine Maude Nichols (Image: Norwich Castle Museum)

Details of her life are sketchy and tend to come from titles of exhibited works, her friends' accounts or interviews in which Nichols sometimes embellished facts or distorted the truth.

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She did come from an affluent family, with her father a surgeon who later become Mayor of Norwich.

Dutton's Court, Elm Hill by Catherine Maude Nichols (Image: Norwich Castle Museum)
 
When her father died in 1878, he left her £1,000 "for her own absolute use" and that financial independence meant she could focus on her art, exhibit and travel extensively.

She visited Normandy, Fontainebleau and the Pyrenees in France, Cornwall, the West Country and Jersey.

Scenes from her travels are on display, along with views of Norwich and images of Norfolk.

Broadland Scene by Catherine Maude Nichols (Image: Norwich Castle Museum)
 
Alongside her career as an artist, the outspoken Nichols was a fierce supporter of animal rights and published poetry, fiction and essays.

The exhibition will be on show at Norwich Castle Museum (Image: Denise Bradley)

Catherine Maude Nichols: Making her Mark, is showing at Norwich Castle Museum.