Tuesday 26 October 2010

Paul Nash - landscape of the vernal equinox

Paul Nash, Landscape of the vernal equinox, oil on canvas, 1934
Sir Roy Strong's "Genius of British Art" on channel 4 the other night looking at landscape, reminded me how fine Paul Nash's paintings were. There's a tradition of English pastoralism and abstraction that I find particularly interesting now (and which I overlooked as a young art student) with painters such as John Piper, Eric Ravillious, and especially Nash that I think warrant more of my attention.
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2 comments:

  1. Finch.R.October 26, 2010 7:58 pm

    I have loved the works of Paul Nash, John Piper and Eric Ravilious for years, my interest deepening when I lived in Rural Hampshire. David Jones also is worth a look, as is David Jones, the etchers F L Griggs, and Robin Tanner, although you may find Robin Tanner a little bucolic for your taste. A book of beautiful essays on the above artists, and some others is "Unquiet Landscape", by Christopher Neve, published in 1990. It is a collection of pieces dealing with "places and ideas in 20th Century English painting". The book is currently out of print, but should be available through library services. You are right, the paintings of Paul Nas are especially fine. He also wrote on art, and you may well be interested to read some of his work.
    The opening chapter of "Unquiet Landscape" is entitled "The Landscape as Emotion",which I imagine would be a title to excite your own sensibilities.
    You might also wish to look at the works of Ivon Hitchens, ( whose lifestyle certainly appealed to my imagination), Mary Potter, particularly the later works, Winifred Nicholson, and Prunella Clough.

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  2. Lesley PuntonOctober 27, 2010 5:32 pm

    thanks. some good pointers and other things to look into!

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