Nash became one of the most evocative painters of the British landscape of the twentieth-century. Samuel Palmer’s Shoreham work and William Blake were important influences. The landscape of southern England preoccupied Nash as an artist. He was fascinated by ancient historical sites especially Wittenham Clumps in Oxfordshire. This Iron Age hill fort site on top of two hills capped by beech trees was one of Nash’s most important places. It was here that Nash first explored the idea of the spirit of a particular landscape. He developed this further in his work combining modernism with a visionary approach to nature and landscape.
Wittenham Clumps 1911-13 by Paul Nash (1889-1946). Watercolour, ink and chalk on paper.
In an open landscape the gently sloping hills rise in the centre of composition and dominate it, capped by a stand of trees in full leaf which cast lengthy shadows. The hillside is divided into fields of different hues. A hedge runs across horizontal plane of composition dividing the hill from the ploughed field in the foreground. Several small flocks of birds wheel in the blue sky above. To either side of the central feature stretches hilly wooded landscape.
In 1946 Nash said of this view: 'Ever since I remember them the Clumps had meant something to me. I felt their importance long before I knew their history. They eclipsed the impression of all the early landscapes I knew. This, I am certain, was due almost entirely to their formal features rather than to any associative force. They were the pyramids of my small world.'
Nash became one of the most evocative painters of the British landscape of the twentieth-century. Along with artists such as Eric Ravilious, Graham Sutherland and John Piper, Nash sought to reconcile, in his words, ‘Going Modern’ with ‘Being British.’
There are these inscriptions on the exhibit:
Tullie House Museum and Art Gallery collection, bequest of Emily and Gordon Bottomley 1949
Image © Tate, London, 2010.
Click here to view exhibitions designed for Secondary school students and their teachers.
Jonathan Jones: The late artist's unfinished replica of his childhood home, with its dark underground retreat, suggests parallels with his troubled life
Published on 16/05/2012
David Shariatmadari: A report by Riba suggests what we want from our homes – big, light-filled spaces – we just don't get. But in the current economic climate, what can architects do about it?
Published on 16/05/2012
Exhibition of images of Elizabeth II, which has already visited Belfast, Edinburgh and Cardiff, arrives in capital
Published on 16/05/2012
Your comments