[1][2] During World War I, he served in the United States Army in France as a camouflage artist.
Nicolaïdes was born in Washington, D.C., where his Greek-born father worked as an importer of Asian artifacts and his mother’s American ancestors date back to the Colonial period.
He made his living initially by a variety of jobs, including picture framing, journalism, and even by appearing once in a film as an extra, playing the role of an art student.
[4] He served in the U.S. Army in France during World War I, where he was one of the first American camouflage artists, serving in the American Camouflage Corps alongside Barry Faulkner, Sherry Edmundson Fry, Abraham Rattner and others.
[citation needed] Nicolaïdes worked as a member of the board of the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation which administered the foundation and managed the Tiffany's Laurelton Hall estate (nicknamed the Oyster Bay estate).