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| 1918 Paul Nash whole-plate glass negative by Bassano Ltd. © National Portrait Gallery, London |
Following on from a series on John Nash, this series is on his older brother Paul Nash (1889, London - 1946 Bournemouth). He was an English painter, book illustrator, writer, photographer, and designer. 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:
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| 1918 The Disquieting Muses by Giorgio de Chirico oil on canvas 97.1 x 66 cm |
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| 1929 Landscape at Iden oil on canvas 69.8 x 90.8 cm Tate, London |
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.
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| 1940-41 Totes Meer (Dead Sea) oil on canvas 102 x 152.4 cm Tate, London |
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 1 of a 7 - part series on the works of Paul Nash:
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| 1910 A Lane in Blue pencil, chalk and wash 35 x 24.5 cm |
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| 1910 Angel and Devil (aka The Combat) ink, pencil and watercolour on cream paper 35.6 c 25.8 cm Victoria & Albert Museum, London |
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| 1911 The Wanderer (aka Path through Trees) pencil, chalk, pen and ink 48.2 x 37.8 cm The British Museum, London |
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| 1911 Vision at Evening watercolour and chalk on paper 18.1 x 35.2 cm Victoria & Albert Museum, London |
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| 1912 Night Landscape pen and ink, chalk and watercolour on paper 36.8 x 30.5 cm Arts Council Collection at the South Bank Centre, London |
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| 1912 The Cliff to the North pen and ink, chalk and watercolour with white heightening on paper 38.7 x 30.5 cm Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, UK |
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| 1912 The Falling Stars pencil, pen and ink, wash and chalk on paper 31.7 x 22 cm Private Collection |
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| 1912 The Field before the Wood ink, pencil, chalk and watercolour 36.8 x 30.5 cm |
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| 1912 The Garden at Wood Lane House, Iver Heath pencil, ink, watercolour and pastel on paper 41.9 x 32.7 cm Private Collection |
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| 1912 The Peacock Path pen and ink and wash 45.7 x 38.1 cm |
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| 1912 The Pyramids in the Sea ink and watercolour on paper 33.6 x 29.8 cm Tate, London |
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| 1912 The Three ink, coloured crayon and watercolour 38.5 x 27 cm |
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| 1912 The Wood on the Hill pen and ink, chalk and watercolour on paper 34.3 x 33 cm Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology, Oxford, UK |
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| 1912 Under the Hill pen and ink and watercolour on paper 39.9 x 12.6 cm Tullie House Museum and Art Gallery, Carlisle, UK |
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| 1912 Wittenham Clumps watercolour, ink and chalk |
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| 1912-13 Lavengro and Isopel in the Dingle ink, graphite and gouache on paper 46.4 x 37 cm Tate, London |
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| 1912-13 The Three at Night (details not found) |
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| 1912-13 The Three pencil, pen and ink with wash 39 x 31.5 cm |
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| c1912-13 A Dawn chalk, pen and ink and watercolour 38.5 x 30.5 cm |
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| 1913 In a Garden under the Moon pen and ink, chalk and watercolour with collage on paper 34.9 x 24.8 cm Tate, London |
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| 1914 Drawing of an Orchard pen and ink, chalk and watercolour on paper 36.8 x 41.9 cm Tate, London |
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| 1918 Spring in the Trenches, Ridge Wood, 1917 oil on canvas 60.9 x 50.8 cm Imperial War Museum, London |
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| 1918 Sunrise: Inverness Copse ink (and chalk?) on paper 25.4 x 35.5 cm Imperial War Museums, London |
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| 1918 We Are Making a New World oil on canvas 71.1 x 91.4 cm Imperial War Museums, London |
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| 1918 The Field Path pen and ink and watercolour on paper 25.3 x 27.1 cm Tullie House Museum and Art Gallery, Carlisle, UK |
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| 1918 The Landscape, Hill pen and ink, pencil and watercolour on paper 40.5 x 50.8 cm Imperial War Museums, London |
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| 1918 Sketch for "The Mule Track" Imperial War Museums, London |
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| 1918 The Mule Track oil on canvas 60.9 x 91.4 cm Imperial War Museums, London |
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| 1918 The Ypres Salient at Night oil on panel 71.4 x 92 cm Imperial War Museums, London |
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| 1918 Void of War lithograph on paper 37 x 44.5 cm |
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| 1918 Void oil on canvas 71.4 x 91.7 cm National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa |
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| c1918-19 In the Trenches charcoal and white chalk 25.5 x 35.5 cm |
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| 1918-19 Wire watercolour, chalk and ink on paper 48.6 x 63.5 cm Imperial War Museums, London |
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| c1918 Wood Interior pen and black ink and watercolour 29.8 x 26.7 cm |
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| 1919 Exhibition Poster Leicester Galleries |
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| 1919 Sea by Night, Dymchurch watercolour on paper 28.1 x 38.9 cm British Museum, London |
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| 1919 Spring Woods watercolour and pencil on paper 38.4 x 51.8 cm Santa Barbara Museum of Art, CA |
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| 1919 The Backwater pencil and watercolour |
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| 1919 The Corner pencil, watercolour and chalk with colour notes 55.5 x 40 cm Jerwood Collection, London |
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| 1919 The Edge of the Wood oil on canvas 65 x 76 cm Reading Museum, UK |
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| 1919 Wind in the Beeches pencil and watercolour on paper 52.5 x 40 cm Aberdeen Art Gallery and Museums, UK |
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| 1919-22 Behind the Inn oil on canvas 63.5 x 76.2 cm Tate, London |
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| 1919c The Edge of the Wood oil on canvas 65 x 76 cm Reading Museum & Town Hall, UK |
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| 1920 Cotswold Hills oil on canvas 49.1 x 59.2 cm The Box (Plymouth Museums Galleries Archives), UK |
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| 1920 Path in the Wood pen and ink with blue grey wash 27.3 x 20 cm The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens, San Marino, CA |
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| 1920 Promenade No.1 wood engraving 11,4 x 14.6 cm (image) Victoria & Albert Museum, London |
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| 1920 Promenade No.2 wood engraving 11.5 x 14 cm Tate, London |
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| 1920 The Sea Wall wood engraving on Japan wove paper 7.7 x 11 cm (image) |
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| 1920 The Sluice lithograph 35.6 x 41.3 cm Private Collection |
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| 1920 The Strange Coast (Dymchurch) lithograph crayon and ink on on brown paper 31.3 x 40.7 cm National Galleries Scotland |
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| before 1920 On the Western Front watercolour, coloured chalks, pen and ink and pencil 28.5 x 30 cm |
