Nicholas Nixon: The Brown Sisters

Begun in 1975, this annual portrait series shows the artist’s wife and her three sisters. Seen together, the series is a deeply moving portrait of family, connection, and time.

Black and white photograph of four women standing shoulder to shoulder in a garden

Black-and-white photographic portrait of four young women with long hair standing in front of a clapboard wall

Black-and-white photographic portrait of four young women seated outdoors on grass

Black-and-white photographic portrait of four young women dressed in sweaters standing under a cloudy sky

Black-and-white photographic portrait of four young women standing on a sunny beach with the ocean on the horizon

Black-and-white photographic portrait of four women standing looking slightly down at the viewer

Black-and-white photographic portrait of four women with arms around each other standing in front of a blank wall

Black-and-white photographic portrait of four women standing outside

Black-and-white photographic portrait of four middle-aged women with two looking into the distance and two looking at the viewer

Black-and-white photographic portrait of four older women with their arms around each other standing in front of a curtained window

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Nicholas Nixon: The Brown Sisters

Begun in 1975, this annual portrait series shows the artist’s wife and her three sisters. Seen together, the series is a deeply moving portrait of family, connection, and time.

Nicholas NixonThe Brown Sisters

1975

gelatin silver contact print, 8 x 10 inches (sheet) [20.3 x 25.4 cm]

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Nicholas NixonThe Brown Sisters, Harwichport, Massachusetts

1978

gelatin silver contact print, 8 x 10 inches (sheet) [20.3 x 25.4 cm]

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Nicholas NixonThe Brown Sisters, Cincinnati

1981

gelatin silver contact print, 8 x 10 inches (sheet) [20.3 x 25.4 cm]

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Nicholas NixonThe Brown Sisters, Ipswich, Massachusetts

1982

gelatin silver contact print, 8 x 10 inches (sheet) [20.3 x 25.4 cm]

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Nicholas NixonThe Brown Sisters, Truro, Massachusetts

1984

gelatin silver contact print, 8 x 10 inches (sheet) [20.3 x 25.4 cm]

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Nicholas NixonThe Brown Sisters, Watertown, Massachusetts

1991

gelatin silver contact print, 8 x 10 inches (sheet) [20.3 x 25.4 cm]

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Nicholas NixonThe Brown Sisters, Wellesley Hills, Massachusetts

1997

gelatin silver contact print, 8 x 10 inches (sheet) [20.3 x 25.4 cm]

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Nicholas NixonThe Brown Sisters, Brookline, Massachusetts

1999

gelatin silver contact print, 8 x 10 inches (sheet) [20.3 x 25.4 cm]

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Nicholas NixonThe Brown Sisters, Truro, Massachusetts

2011

gelatin silver contact print, 8 x 10 inches (sheet) [20.3 x 25.4 cm]

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Nicholas NixonThe Brown Sisters, Brookline, Massachusetts

2018

gelatin silver contact print, 8 x 10 inches (sheet) [20.3 x 25.4 cm]

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Related Portfolios

Black-and-white photograph of a city intersection in winter with a rooftop garage and smokestacks

Nicholas Nixon: New Topographics

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Nicholas Nixon: New Topographics

These images of the vast cityscapes of New York and Boston, at once both ordered and chaotic, were part of one of the most influential exhibitions of the seventies, New Topographics: Photographs of a Man-Altered Landscape at the George Eastman House.

Black-and-white photograph of a city skyline with high rise buildings scattered throughout the landscape — Nicholas Nixon, View of Boston from Commercial Wharf, 1975

gelatin silver contact print, 8 x 10 inches (sheet) [20.3 x 25.4 cm]

Black-and-white photograph of a highway and surrounding neighborhoods at midday under a clear sky — Nicholas Nixon, Southeast View of the Fenway Area, Boston, 1975

gelatin silver contact print, 8 x 10 inches (sheet) [20.3 x 25.4 cm]

Black-and-white photograph of a Greco-Roman style building with a domed roof amid modern city high rise buildings — Nicholas Nixon, View of Mother Church and Christian Science Center, Boston, 1975

gelatin silver contact print, 8 x 10 inches (sheet) [20.3 x 25.4 cm]

Black-and-white photograph of a curved building amid taller rectangular high-rise buildings — Nicholas Nixon, View of Center Plaza and Suffolk County Courthouse, Boston, 1975

gelatin silver contact print, 8 x 10 inches (sheet) [20.3 x 25.4 cm]

Black-and-white photograph of a large church set behind an open plaza amid modern city high-rise buildings — Nicholas Nixon, View of Copley Square, Boston, 1974

gelatin silver contact print, 8 x 10 inches (sheet) [20.3 x 25.4 cm]

Black-and-white photograph of a low rise industrial neighborhood and a wharf on a river — Nicholas Nixon, View of North End and Wharf Area, Boston, 1975

gelatin silver contact print, 8 x 10 inches (sheet) [20.3 x 25.4 cm]

Black-and-white photograph of a highway bridge crossing a river next to a Coca-Cola plant — Nicholas Nixon, View of Cambridge from Memorial Drive, Cambridge, 1975

gelatin silver contact print, 8 x 10 inches (sheet) [20.3 x 25.4 cm]

Black-and-white photograph at the corner of a low square building with rounded arch windows — Nicholas Nixon, View of Boston Public Library, 1974

gelatin silver contact print, 8 x 10 inches (sheet) [20.3 x 25.4 cm]

Black-and-white photograph of a rectangular glass high-rise building rising above surrounding city buildings — Nicholas Nixon, View north from the Prudential Building, Boston, 1975

gelatin silver contact print, 8 x 10 inches (sheet) [20.3 x 25.4 cm]

Nicholas NixonView of Turnpike Entrance, Boston

1976

gelatin silver contact print, 8 x 10 inches (sheet) [20.3 x 25.4 cm]

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Nicholas NixonView of Boston from Commercial Wharf

1975

gelatin silver contact print, 8 x 10 inches (sheet) [20.3 x 25.4 cm]

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Nicholas NixonSoutheast View of the Fenway Area, Boston

1975

gelatin silver contact print, 8 x 10 inches (sheet) [20.3 x 25.4 cm]

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Nicholas NixonView of Mother Church and Christian Science Center, Boston

1975

gelatin silver contact print, 8 x 10 inches (sheet) [20.3 x 25.4 cm]

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Nicholas NixonView of Center Plaza and Suffolk County Courthouse, Boston

1975

gelatin silver contact print, 8 x 10 inches (sheet) [20.3 x 25.4 cm]

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Nicholas NixonView of Copley Square, Boston

1974

gelatin silver contact print, 8 x 10 inches (sheet) [20.3 x 25.4 cm]

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Nicholas NixonView of North End and Wharf Area, Boston

1975

gelatin silver contact print, 8 x 10 inches (sheet) [20.3 x 25.4 cm]

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Nicholas NixonView of Cambridge from Memorial Drive, Cambridge

1975

gelatin silver contact print, 8 x 10 inches (sheet) [20.3 x 25.4 cm]

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Nicholas NixonView of Boston Public Library

1974

gelatin silver contact print, 8 x 10 inches (sheet) [20.3 x 25.4 cm]

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Nicholas NixonView north from the Prudential Building, Boston

1975

gelatin silver contact print, 8 x 10 inches (sheet) [20.3 x 25.4 cm]

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Black and white photograph of sunlight filtering through a lace curtain

Nicholas Nixon: Details

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Nicholas Nixon: Details

Photographed in exquisite detail with a large-format camera, the modest details of light through a curtain or the undulations of grass become a rich source for meditative thought.

Black-and-white photograph of diagonal stripes of light on a matted photograph of a seascape — Nicholas Nixon, Detail of Frank Gohlke’s Texas Landscape, Brookline, 2016

gelatin silver contact print, 14 x 11 inches (sheet) [35.6 x 27.9 cm]

Black-and-white photograph of a latticed screen outside a window — Nicholas Nixon, White Place, Brookline, 2008

gelatin silver contact print, 10 x 8 inches (sheet) [25.4 x 20.3 cm]

Black-and-white photograph of a metal mailbox on the wall of a clap-board sided house — Nicholas Nixon, Our Front Porch, Brookline, 2014

gelatin silver contact print, 10 x 8 inches (sheet) [25.4 x 20.3 cm]

Black-and-white photograph of a stairway from beneath between two clapboard walls — Nicholas Nixon, West Concord, Massachusetts, 2008

gelatin silver contact print, 10 x 8 inches (sheet) [25.4 x 20.3 cm]

Black-and-white photograph of light through a crumpled sheer curtain — Nicholas Nixon, Our bedroom curtain, Brookline, 2017

gelatin silver print, 24 x 20 inches (sheet) [61 x 50.8 cm]

Black-and-white photograph of light and shadow through a curtain — Nicholas Nixon, Our bedroom curtain, Brookline, 2017

gelatin silver print, 24 x 20 inches (sheet) [61 x 50.8 cm]

Black-and-white photograph of a window curtain pulled back onto a hook in the window frame — Nicholas Nixon, Our bedroom curtain, Brookline, 2017

gelatin silver print, 24 x 20 inches (sheet) [61.0 x 50.8 cm]

Black-and-white photograph of a patch of light on an embroidered picture of two dancing figures and a satyr — Nicholas Nixon, Brookline (Unknown Tapestry), 2016

gelatin silver contact print, 11 x 14 inches (sheet) [27.9 x 35.6 cm]

Black-and-white photograph of grass bending in a breeze — Nicholas Nixon, Cadenet, France, 2013

gelatin silver contact print, 11 x 14 inches (sheet) [27.9 x 35.6 cm]

Black-and-white photograph of mud and plant matter on a riverbank — Nicholas Nixon, Muddy River, Boston, 2014

gelatin silver contact print, 11 x 14 inches (sheet) [27.9 x 35.6 cm]

Black-and-white photograph of flattened stems of grass — Nicholas Nixon, Marion, Massachusetts, 2012

gelatin silver contact print, 11 x 14 inches (sheet) [27.9 x 35.6 cm]

Black-and-white photograph of cut and torn scraps of white fabric — Nicholas Nixon, Clementine’s Dying Samples (A), Brookline, 2014

gelatin silver contact print, 11 x 14 inches (sheet) [27.9 x 35.6 cm]

Black-and-white photograph of the corner of a wool shawl with fringed edges — Nicholas Nixon, My Shawl, Brookline, 2016

gelatin silver contact print, 14 x 11 inches (sheet) [35.6 x 27.9 cm]

Nicholas NixonBrookline

2000

gelatin silver contact print, 10 x 8 inches (sheet) [25.4 x 20.3 cm]

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Nicholas NixonDetail of Frank Gohlke’s Texas Landscape, Brookline

2016

gelatin silver contact print, 14 x 11 inches (sheet) [35.6 x 27.9 cm]

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Nicholas NixonWhite Place, Brookline

2008

gelatin silver contact print, 10 x 8 inches (sheet) [25.4 x 20.3 cm]

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Nicholas NixonOur Front Porch, Brookline

2014

gelatin silver contact print, 10 x 8 inches (sheet) [25.4 x 20.3 cm]

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Nicholas NixonWest Concord, Massachusetts

2008

gelatin silver contact print, 10 x 8 inches (sheet) [25.4 x 20.3 cm]

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Nicholas NixonOur bedroom curtain, Brookline

2017

gelatin silver print, 24 x 20 inches (sheet) [61 x 50.8 cm]

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Nicholas NixonOur bedroom curtain, Brookline

2017

gelatin silver print, 24 x 20 inches (sheet) [61 x 50.8 cm]

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Nicholas NixonOur bedroom curtain, Brookline

2017

gelatin silver print, 24 x 20 inches (sheet) [61.0 x 50.8 cm]

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Nicholas NixonBrookline (Unknown Tapestry)

2016

gelatin silver contact print, 11 x 14 inches (sheet) [27.9 x 35.6 cm]

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Nicholas NixonCadenet, France

2013

gelatin silver contact print, 11 x 14 inches (sheet) [27.9 x 35.6 cm]

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Nicholas NixonMuddy River, Boston

2014

gelatin silver contact print, 11 x 14 inches (sheet) [27.9 x 35.6 cm]

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Nicholas NixonMarion, Massachusetts

2012

gelatin silver contact print, 11 x 14 inches (sheet) [27.9 x 35.6 cm]

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Nicholas NixonClementine’s Dying Samples (A), Brookline

2014

gelatin silver contact print, 11 x 14 inches (sheet) [27.9 x 35.6 cm]

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Nicholas NixonMy Shawl, Brookline

2016

gelatin silver contact print, 14 x 11 inches (sheet) [35.6 x 27.9 cm]

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Black-and-white photograph of a woman reclining in a white bathtub looking up

Nicholas Nixon: Family

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Nicholas Nixon: Family

The artist’s frank photographs of his wife and two children, though deeply personal, evoke the universal themes of family life with its deep intimacy, trust, and love.

Black-and-white photograph of a boy lying on the floor of a sunny room with his face turned to the viewer — Nicholas Nixon, Black and Sam, Cambridge, 1995

gelatin silver contact print, 8 x 10 inches (sheet) [20.3 x 25.4 cm]

Black-and-white photograph of two shirtless young children standing next to each other — Nicholas Nixon, Clementine and Sam, Cambridge, 1989

gelatin silver contact print, 8 x 10 inches (sheet) [20.3 x 25.4 cm]

Black-and-white photograph of of a boy's bent-over back against the backdrop of a seashore — Nicholas Nixon, Sam, St. Maries de la Mar, France, 1997

gelatin silver contact print, 10 x 8 inches (sheet) [25.4 x 20.3 cm]

Black-and-white photographic portrait of a woman wearing a black hat — Nicholas Nixon, Bebe, Lexington, 1996

gelatin silver contact print, 10 x 8 inches (sheet) [25.4 x 20.3 cm]

Black-and-white photograph of a woman kissing a baby's head — Nicholas Nixon, Clementine, Cambridge, 1985

gelatin silver contact print, 8 x 10 inches (sheet) [20.3 x 25.4 cm]

Black-and-white photograph of a boy seated in a kitchen with his chin in his hand with a woman and child behind him — Nicholas Nixon, Sam, Cambridge, 1990

gelatin silver contact print, 8 x 10 inches (sheet) [20.3 x 25.4 cm]

Black-and-white close-up photograph of a woman's arms with stitches holding a drooling toddler — Nicholas Nixon, Clementine and Bebe, Cambridge, 1986

gelatin silver contact print, 8 x 10 inches (sheet) [20.3 x 25.4 cm]

Black-and-white photograph of a man's bearded face in a woman's wiry gray hair — Nicholas Nixon, Bebe and I, Brookline, 2012

gelatin silver contact print, 14 x 11 inches (sheet) [35.6 x 27.9 cm]

Nicholas NixonBebe, Cambridge

1980

gelatin silver contact print, 8 x 10 inches (sheet) [20.3 x 25.4 cm]

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Nicholas NixonBlack and Sam, Cambridge

1995

gelatin silver contact print, 8 x 10 inches (sheet) [20.3 x 25.4 cm]

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Nicholas NixonClementine and Sam, Cambridge

1989

gelatin silver contact print, 8 x 10 inches (sheet) [20.3 x 25.4 cm]

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Nicholas NixonSam, St. Maries de la Mar, France

1997

gelatin silver contact print, 10 x 8 inches (sheet) [25.4 x 20.3 cm]

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Nicholas NixonBebe, Lexington

1996

gelatin silver contact print, 10 x 8 inches (sheet) [25.4 x 20.3 cm]

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Nicholas NixonClementine, Cambridge

1985

gelatin silver contact print, 8 x 10 inches (sheet) [20.3 x 25.4 cm]

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Nicholas NixonSam, Cambridge

1990

gelatin silver contact print, 8 x 10 inches (sheet) [20.3 x 25.4 cm]

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Nicholas NixonClementine and Bebe, Cambridge

1986

gelatin silver contact print, 8 x 10 inches (sheet) [20.3 x 25.4 cm]

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Nicholas NixonBebe and I, Brookline

2012

gelatin silver contact print, 14 x 11 inches (sheet) [35.6 x 27.9 cm]

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Black-and-white photograph of an old man pushing his fingers into his temples.

Nicholas Nixon: Old People & Patients

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Nicholas Nixon: Old People & Patients

With deep compassion, the artist documents the challenges and struggles of people in the final stages of their lives. The complex considerations of subject and form provoke a meditation on the depth of the human experience.

Black-and-white photograph of a seated emaciated man resting his forearms on his knees — Nicholas Nixon, Donald Perham, Milford, New Hampshire, 1988

gelatin silver contact print, 8 x 10 inches (sheet) [20.3 x 25.4 cm]

Nicholas Nixon, C.C., Boston, 1983

gelatin silver contact print, 8 x 10 inches (sheet) [20.3 x 25.4 cm]