John Christian Nissen, III

Chris Nissen (John Christian Nissen, III), 75, of Chestnut Hill passed away February 1st after a long and courageous battle with Parkinsons. He is survived by his wife, Cynthia Brey; daughters, Schuyler (Cincinnati, OH) and Terry (Moorestown, NJ); brothers, Leif (Allison) of Moorestown and Eric (Sandra) of Dacula, GA; and granddaughters, Alanna and Andra Cooper of Moorestown.

Chris was a nationally recognized award-winning artist principally known for his landscape paintings with their compelling compositions, unique interplay of light and shadow, painterly surfaces and color sensibilities that became increasingly chromatic and bolder over the decades. He was a prolific painter, producing a substantial body of work over his long painting career. His work is held in numerous private, public and museum collections throughout the country, as well as the Arts in Embassies Program. Chris graduated from the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (PAFA), the University of Virginia (UVA) and Moorestown Friends School. At UVA, Chris was on both the soccer and baseball D1 teams. Chris was also an adjunct assistant professor at Temple University in the architecture department during the late 1980’s - early 1990’s.

Chris had a passion for his family, travel, nature, and gardening - all subjects of his paintings. By intuition and will, he could build anything by himself - transforming a garage into a skylit studio, rebuilding a hidden alcove into a functioning fireplace, building a telescope and computers from scratch, as examples. He loved regaling his friends and family with stories of his adventures, current politics, mysteries of the universe, baseball stats and all things Maine, livened by his sense of humor. Later in his career, Chris worked on large scale commissions, rearranging his studio to accommodate the monumental scale of the paintings.

He won numerous awards and prizes including two travel scholarships while at PAFA (William Emlen Cresson Memorial Traveling Scholarship and J. Henry Scheidt Memorial Traveling Scholarship), enabling months of travel in Europe to visit the finest museum collections. He also won a New Jersey State Council on the Arts Fellowship. Throughout his career, he was affiliated with many galleries and dealers, including Marian Locks Gallery and Gross McCleaf Gallery in Philadelphia. Chris was influential to many of his peers, young painters and students in Philadelphia and was himself influenced by many great painters from Philadelphia and beyond spanning centuries.

Chris’s spirit lives on in his art, our hearts and memories.

A Celebration of Life service for Chris will be held on February 22nd at 1 PM at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, 118-128 North Broad Street, Hamilton Building, Lower Level. Feel free to wear colors. Donations can be made in his name to: Parkinsons Disease and Movement Disorders Center Fund at Pennsylvania Hospital.  https://giving.apps.upenn.edu/fund?program=MC&fund=602094