Painting England’s Mood | The Quiet Vision of John Nash

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“If I wanted a foreigner to understand the mood of a typical English landscape, I would show him Nash's best watercolours."

- Eric Newton

Most well-known for his lyrical landscapes of the English countryside, John Nash was not a formally trained artist. He worked initially as a local journalist and it was only through the encouragement of his brother Paul, who began attending the Slade School of Art in 1910, that he began to develop his draughtsmanship skills. Initially he began working in watercolour on biblical scenes, caricatures and landscape sketches, as well as on wonderfully lyrical wood block prints. He held a joint exhibition with Paul at the Dorrien Leigh Gallery, London in 1913, and in 1914 became a founding member of the London Group. During the First World War, Nash served in the Artists’ Rifles and was an Official War Artist, painting two of his most well-known and iconic works Oppy Wood (1917, Imperial War Museum, London) and Over the Top (1917, Imperial War Museum). He later became a member of the New English Art Club and a critic for The London Mercury.

^{▲ John Nash RA (British, 1893-1977), View from Cromer Pier (£8,000-12,000)}

Nash’s paintings following WWI focused primarily on the landscape. He was particularly adept at finding meaning, beauty and profundity in the everyday, and imbuing scenes with a human presence. He had moved from London to Buckingham as a child, so early in his life developed an appreciation for the natural environment and local landscape, in particular the fields, hedgerows and rolling hills. He was great friends with Eric Ravilious and Edward Bawden, whom he met through his brother, and he enjoyed painting excursions in the countryside with each.

^{▲ John Nash RA (British, 1893-1977), A hilly landscape (£800-1,200)}

Until very recently, John’s work has been relatively overlooked in the story of 20th Century British Art. He was not an artist who was at all interested in self-promotion, and his pieces do not fall easily into the narrative of avant garde developments in Britain. He felt a need to paint the world as he experienced it, rather than engage in debates about the meaning of art and whether one should be pulled towards abstraction or figuration. He also fell very much under the shadow of Paul, who was in many ways his opposite, highly invested in his own promotion and maintaining connections with international artistic developments.
It is only more recently that John’s work has become increasingly recognized. Both the publication of Andrew Lambirth’s monograph, John Nash: Artist and Countryman in 2019, and Compton Verney’s major exhibition, John Nash: The Landscape of Love and Solace from October 2021 to January 2022, increased public awareness of his work.

^{▲ John Nash RA (British, 1893-1977) Landscape (£1,500-2,500)}

We are honoured to feature 13 incredible works from the estate of John Nash in our upcoming Modern & Contemporary Art auction on Tuesday 31 March. In-person viewing of the collection, along with the rest of this exciting sale, will be available at our Stansted Mountfitchet Auction Rooms on Friday 27, Sunday 29 and Monday 30 March.

Tuesday 31 March | 10am

pictures@sworder.co.uk | 01279 817778

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