Educated at the Quackenbos School in New York City, James C. Nicoll worked at a young age with marine painters Mauritz F.H. de Haas and Hendrik Dirk Kruseman Van Elten. By 1870, he was in the Tenth Street Building where he shared a double studio with the two men. During the summers, Nicoll roamed the Atlantic coast from Canada to Florida in search of marine subjects. In the 1890s, he began to travel further afield with yearly trips to California, Mexico, Cuba, Jamaica, Europe, and North Africa.
Nicoll was an etcher and a watercolorist. He helped found the American Water Color Society and served for many years as its secretary (1870-1879), treasurer (1881-1883), and president (1904-10). He was also corresponding secretary of the National Academy (1892-1895) and a frequent member of the Council between 1891 and 1908. His gifts to the Academy included paintings by James Whitehorn, Samuel F. B. Morse (one of six joint donors), and Seymour J. Guy. The Academy also possesses a collection of photographs of Nicoll's paintings.