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Nikolsky Gallery
Alexei Nikolsky was of Russian extraction and his family fled from Russia on the Communist takeover in 1918. Their choice of exile was Poland, from where they were forced to flee again when the Nazis invaded in 1939. The Nikolsky family came to England via France, and Alexei was put to work in agriculture, this being useful to the British war effort. This is how Nikolsky found himself living in Northney, an agrarian area of Hayling Island, where he stayed until his death in the mid-1970's.
A musician as well as an artist, Nikolsky chose painting purely on the ground that he found it easier to earn money that way. As his reputation grew, local traders and businesses grew used to bartering their services with Nikolsky, and as he was prolific in his output, several fine collections which were built up this way.
Nikolsky's story does not have a happy ending. After the death of his wife, he seemed inconsolable and lost the ability to paint as before. He died in 1975.
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