Monday 1 February 2021

Paul Nash - part 2

1918 Paul Nash
whole-plate glass negative by Bassano Ltd.
© National Portrait Gallery, London
 

Paul Nash was one of the most individual British artists of his period, taking a distinguished place in the English tradition of deep attachment to the countryside whilst at the same time responding imaginatively to European modernism. He saw himself as a successor of William Blake and Turner.

After training at the Slade School he served in the First World War, was wounded, and worked as an Official War Artist, his work including some powerful views of the pitted and shattered landscape of No Man's Land that rank among the most memorable images of the conflict.

Although his later career was varied and distinguished, many critics feel that his First World War paintings mark the summit of his achievement. In the 1920s and particularly in the 1930s he was influenced by Surrealism (above all by Giorgio de Chirico, an exhibition of whose work he saw in London in 1928) 

and often concentrated on mysterious aspects of the landscape.


For much of this time he lived in rural areas (Kent, Sussex, Dorset), basing his work on scenes he knew well but imaginatively transforming them. However, he continued to be involved in the London art world, and in 1933 he was the prime mover in the formation of Unit One; he also helped to organise and exhibited in the International Surrealist Exhibition in London in 1936. In the Second World War he was again an Official War Artist. He was already very sick with the asthmatic condition that killed him, but his war work included an acknowledged masterpiece, Totes Meer (Dead Sea), which portrays shot-down aircraft with their wings looking like undulating waves.


Nash was regarded as one of the finest book illustrators of his time; he also designed scenery, fabrics, and posters, and was a photographer and writer, his books including a guide to Dorset (1936). His brother John (1893–1977) was also a painter and illustrator, excelling in meticulous flower drawings for botanical publications. Like Paul he was an Official War Artist in both world wars.


This is part 2 of a 7 - part series on the works of Paul Nash:


1920c Costume Design (Golfing) for Karissima
The Truth about the Russian Dancers, London Coliseum, 15 March 1920

1920s Pattern Paper
colour offset lithograph from wood engraving printed by Curwen Press Ltd. 30.5 x 47 cm
Victoria & Albert Museum, London

before 1921 Portrait of Alice Daglish
oil on canvas 61 x 45.8 cm

1921 Landscape, Stone Cliff
pencil and watercolour 37.5 x 54 cm

1921 Pink Hyacinth
oil on canvas 49.5 x 75 cm
H.M. Government Art Collection, London

1921 Poplar Pond
pencil and coloured crayons, lightly squared 14.6 x 11.4 cm

1921 Stone Cliff
pencil, chalk and watercolour on paper 38.1 x 55 cm
British Consulate-General, Chicago, IL

1921 The Valley
pencil, coloured crayon and watercolour on paper
38 x 52.5 cm
Private Collection

1921 Towards Shore
pencil, chalk and watercolour on paper 35.6 x 50.2 cm
The Whitworth, University of Manchester, UK

1921-22 Tench Pond in a Gale
pencil, pen and ink and watercolour on paper 57.7 x 39.9 cm
Tate, London

1922 A Rainy Day
pencil, chalk and watercolour on paper 32.4 x 50.5 cm
Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington

1922 Berkshire Downs
oil on canvas 76 x 55.5 cm
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, UK

1922 Black Poplar Pond
wood engraving 23 x 32 cm (image)

1922 Coast Scene, Dymchurch
pen and black ink and watercolour 19 x 32 cm

1922 Dyke by the Road
wood engraving
The Cleveland Museum of Art, UK

1922 Dymchurch
pen and ink and watercolour 2.7 x 4 cm (image)
Commissioned for the Library in Queen Mary’s Dolls’ House
Royal Collection Trust, UK

1922 Dymchurch
pencil and watercolour 20.3 x 33 cm
Private Collection

1922 Exhibition Poster
Alpine Club Galleries

1922 Garden Pond
wood engraving on paper 12 x 13.5 cm
Rye Art Gallery, Sussex, UK

1922 Path
oil on canvas 72.5 x 49.5 cm

1922 Sussex Landscape
pencil, coloured crayon and watercolour 26 x 47.3 cm

1922 The End of the Steps
oil on canvas 50.8 x 61 cm

1922 The Shore (Dymchurch, Kent)
pencil, pen and ink, watercolour, wash and crayon
20 x 32.5 cm

1922 Trees
pencil, watercolour and pastel 28 x 39.5 cm

1922 Winter Wood
wood engraving 14.6 x 11.4 cm (image)

1922-23 Granary
oil on canvas 75 x 62 cm
Brighton and Hove Museums and Art Galleries, Sussex, UK

1923 Self-Portrait
wood engraving 39.8 x 28.6 cm

1923 The Shore
oil on canvas 62.2 x 94 cm
Leeds Art Gallery, UK

1923-38 Chestnut Waters
oil on canvas 102.9 x 128.3 cm
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa

c1923 The Wall, Dymchurch
engraving on paper 12.5 x 20 cm
Tate, London

1924 Camber Castle
pencil, watercolour and pastel 38.7 x 56.2 cm

1924 Interior, Pantile Cottage, Dymchurch
oil on canvas 76.2 x 63.5 cm

1924 Mirror and Window
oil on canvas 76 x 56 cm
Private Collection

1924 Sandling Park, Kent
oil on canvas 91.9 x 71 cm
Manchester Art Gallery, UK

1924-44 Dymchurch Steps
oil on canvas 66.4 x 101.8 cm
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa

1925 Design of Trees
pencil and watercolour 56.2 x 39.3 cm
British Museum, London

1925 Dymchurch
pencil, chalk and watercolour 33.3 x 51 cm
British Museum, London

1925 Landscape with Hill
pencil and watercolour on paper 38 x 56.5 cm

1925 Nostalgic Landscape
oil on canvas 71.2 x 50.8 cm
New Walk Museum & Art Gallery, Leicester, UK

1925 Nostalgic Landscape study
pencil and crayon squared for transfer 17.2 x 12.1 cm

1925 The Conservatory
pencil and watercolour on white wove paper 56.9 x 39.8 cm
Art Institute of Chicago, IL

1924 Genesis Book With 12 Woodcuts On Zanders Hand-made Laid Paper 

Printed by Curwen Press, published by Nonesuch Press:



Publisher's Black Linen Binding
27.6 x 19.7 cm


Foreword
engraving on Zanders hand-made laid paper
26.5 x 18.5 cm (sheet)

The Face of the Waters
wood engraving 

The Division of the Light from the Darkness
wood engraving

Creation of the Firmament
wood engraving

The Dry Land Appearing
wood engraving

Vegetation
wood engraving

The Sun and Moon
wood engraving

The Stars Also
wood engraving

The Fish and the Fowl
wood engraving

Cattle and Creeping Thing
wood engraving

Man and Woman
wood engraving

Contemplation
wood engraving


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