Roy Nuse was a prolific artist, who was well respected by his peers and a beloved teacher at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. He began his artistic training in Cinncinnati, where he was born, under the tutelage of Frank Duveneck. From Duvenek, Nuse learned the importance of expert draftsmanship and the value of a strong, dark palette. When his parents moved to Bucks County, Pennsylvania, Nuse followed with his own family. He enrolled at the Pennsylvania Academy, where he met Daniel Garber. Garber would assert strong influence on Nuse's artistic style. Under Garber, Nuse refined his sense of color and mastered his draftsmanship. He practiced plein air painting and advocated instilling the landscape with emotion and mood.

During his lifetime Nuse exhibited at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; the Art Institute of Chicago; the National Academy of Design, New York; and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, where he also taught portraiture and figure study for over twenty-nine years.