"Now Nickson, the much admired Dean and Atelier Head of Painting at the New York Studio School, has some 24 portrait heads from over two decades on view at Betty Cuningham Gallery. These are modestly-scaled paintings with the heads themselves slightly smaller than life size, all posing the basic question of what a portrait is. What actually is to be depicted? Is a physical likeness the manifestation of identity or is there something more? Observation is central to the exercise. The physical individual is very much here, but as one examines the show as a whole, it is apparent how Nickson further penetrates and alludes to the sitter's temperament and character."