John Nash (artist)
John Nash CBE RA | |
---|---|
Born | John Northcote Nash 11 April 1893 London, England |
Died | 23 September 1977 Colchester, England | (aged 84)
Nationality | British |
Known for | Painting, engraving, illustration |
Notable work | The Cornfield, Over the Top |
Spouse | Dorothy Christine Kulenthal |
Elected | Founder member of The London Group |
John Northcote Nash
Early life
Nash was born in London, the younger son of lawyer William Harry Nash who served as
John Nash had no formal art training, but was encouraged by his brother to develop his abilities as a draughtsman. His early work was in watercolour and included Biblical scenes, comic drawings and landscapes. A joint exhibition with Paul at the Dorien Leigh Gallery, London, in 1913 was successful, and John was invited to become a founder-member of the
First World War
In 1915 Nash joined
Nash's health initially prevented him enlisting at the outbreak of the First World War but from November 1916 to January 1918 he served in the
In 1914 Nash began painting in oils with the encouragement of
Post-war career
Nash married Carrington's friend Dorothy Christine Kühlenthal in May 1918. She was the daughter of a German chemist who had settled in Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire, and had studied at the Slade. Their only child, William, was born in 1930; he died when he fell out of the back of a moving car in 1935, aged 4.
From 1918 to 1921, Nash lived at Gerrard's Cross, with summer expeditions to the
After the First World War, Nash's efforts went mainly into painting landscapes. Eric Newton, the art historian said of him 'If I wanted a foreigner to understand the mood of a typical English landscape, I would show him Nash's best watercolours."[4] Emotions concerning the war, however, continued to linger for many years; and this was depicted in his landscape painting. This is particularly evident in The Moat, Grange Farm, Kimble, oil on canvas, exhibited in 1922. In this brooding landscape the trees and their tendril-like branches envelope the entire picture plane.The dark subtle colours and evening light give the painting a claustrophobic atmosphere. This painting, completed a few years after the war, is characterised by a sense of bleak desolation that suggests the profound introspection that for many followed the devastation of the war. Although he had a great love of nature Nash often used natural subjects to convey powerful and sensitive thoughts concerning the human condition.[5] He was close friends with the writer Ronald Blythe, who dedicated his best-selling book Akenfield to the artist, and who shared his love of the unmanaged forest where fallen trees were left to create their own chaos.[6]
In 1923 Nash became a member of the Modern English Water-colour Society. In 1923 he worked in Dorset and in 1924 in Bath and Bristol. From 1924 to 1929 he taught at
Nash was also an accomplished printmaker. He was a founder member of the Society of Wood Engravers in 1920. He produced woodcuts and wood engravings first as illustrations to literary periodicals, and then increasingly as illustrations for books produced by the private presses; these include Jonathan Swift's Directions to Servants (Golden Cockerel Press, 1925) and Edmund Spenser's The Shepheard's Calendar (Cresset Press, 1930). His interest in botanical subjects is shown by his illustrations to H. E. Bates Flowers and Faces (Golden Cockerel Press, 1935)[7] and Bob Gathorne-Hardy's Wild Flowers in Britain (Batsford 1938).[8]
Later life
At the beginning of the
After the war, Nash lived at
Nash suffered from severe arthritis in later years. His wife died in 1976; they had been married for over 58 years. Nash died on 23 September 1977, in Colchester. They are both buried at St Andrew's, Wormingford, Essex. Ronald Blythe inherited Bottengoms from Nash.[12][13]
Notes
- ISBN 978-1-905847-84-6.
- ^ Barry Gregory. A History of The Artists Rifles. Pen & Sword. 2006. p.176.
- ^ a b Tate. "Artist biography: John Nash". Tate. Retrieved 5 August 2014.
- ^ Newton, Eric ' In my view' April 1939
- ^ John Nash 1893–1977 Published in The Modern British Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture, London, 1964,11 by Mary Chamot, Dennis Farr and Martin Butlin.
- ^ Roger Deakin, Notes from Walnut Tree Farm (2006) p. 3
- ^ "Flowers and Faces :: HE Bates". hebates.com. Retrieved 17 October 2021.
- ^ Sir John Rothenstein, John Nash, London:MacDonald, 1983
- ^ "About Us". Colchester Art Society. Archived from the original on 10 July 2015. Retrieved 5 February 2014.
- ^ "Biography". The Victor Batte-Lay Trust Collection. Archived from the original on 6 August 2014. Retrieved 31 July 2014.
- ^ "What about its history?". The Friends of the Minories Art Gallery. Archived from the original on 15 November 2013. Retrieved 31 July 2014.
- ^ Mount, Harry. "Rural idol: Ronald Blythe, author of Akenfield, at 90", The Spectator, 13 October 2012. Retrieved 6 November 2012.
- ^ Parker, Peter. "At the Yeoman's House and At Helpston by Ronald Blythe: review", The Daily Telegraph, 23 December 2011. Retrieved 7 November 2012.
References
- Ronald Blythe, 'Nash, John Northcote (1893–1977)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2006 accessed 26 June 2014
Further reading
- Blythe, Ronald. John Nash's Cats. (2003. Liverpool: Wood Lea) ISBN 0-9543185-2-8
- Colvin, Clare. John Nash Book Designs. (1986. Colchester: The Minories) ISBN 0-948252-01-4
- Freer, Allen. John Nash: The Delighted Eye. (1993. London: Ashgate) ISBN 1-85928-000-5(paper)
- Friend, Andy. John Nash : the landscape of love and solace. (2020. London: Thames & Hudson) ISBN 978-0500022900
- Greenwood, Jeremy, ed. The Wood Engravings of John Nash. A Catalogue of the Wood Engravings, Early Lithographs, Etchings and Engravings on Metal (1987. Liverpool: Wood Lea)
- John Nash. (British Artists of Today, 11.) (1925. London: Fleuron)
- Lambirth, Andrew. John Nash: Artist and Countryman. (2020. London: Unicorn) ISBN 978-1-916495-70-8
- Lascelles, Venetia John Nash in Meadle 1922–1939 (2006, privately published)
- Lewis, John. John Nash: The Painter as Illustrator. (1978. Godalming: Pendomer) ISBN 0-920538-01-0
- Nash, John. English Garden Flowers. (1948. London: Duckworth)
- Packer, William. "John Nash and Over the Top." The Jackdaw (December/January 2006)
- Rothenstein, John. John Nash (1983. London. MacDonald) ISBN 0-356-09780-3
External links
- 72 artworks by or after John Nash at the Art UK site
- John Nash in the Imperial War Museum Collection.
- John Nash's Cats
- John Nash in Wormingford – V&A Museum