Robert Nickle Collages 1966–1979

Press Release

Opening Reception: March 13, 2026 | 6-8pm

Corbett vs. Dempsey is pleased to present a selection of historical collage works by Robert Nickle. This is the gallery's second exhibition of Nickle's work.

Widely exhibited in his lifetime, Robert Nickle (1919–1980) was one of Chicago's premier abstract artists, his approach remaining uncommonly consistent over the course of more than three decades. With a strong aesthetic connection to certain modernist precursors, especially Kurt Schwitters, and with direct ties to Chicago's New Bauhaus, Nickle constructed his collages painstakingly, over long periods of time, collecting flotsam and jetsam from the street – scraps of paper, discarded labels, weathered bits of carton or packing material – which he assembled into intimate patchworks. Working on a large table, on which dozens of collages were arranged prone, like dissection specimens, Nickle found the perfect pieces for each puzzle. Once finalized, these compact compositions were encased in a signature framing system, notoriously booby-trapped to make future reframing nearly impossible. Each work's verso features a special element – a small circular glazed portal beneath which sits a photograph of the artist on the day the work was consummated, with his signature and the year of completion. Since his death, Nickle's extraordinary contribution to the art of Chicago has rarely been the subject of monographic investigation. In this exhibition, CvsD presents collages from the 1960s and '70s, with two examples presented to display their highly unusual, charmingly personal reverse sides.

Artist Page