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John Nash
128 pages, Hardcover
First published December 31, 1983
About the author
John Rothenstein
224 booksSir John Knewstub Maurice Rothenstein (1901 -1992) was a British art historian and director of the Tate Gallery in London from 1938 until 1964, where he supervised the evacuation of works of art during the Blitz.
Rothenstein documented the lives of all the major (and many still overlooked) British artists in his publication, Modern English Painters.
Rothenstein documented the lives of all the major (and many still overlooked) British artists in his publication, Modern English Painters.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
July 3, 2025
I became interested in John Nash after seeing a couple of his World War 1 works, thought I'd invest in a biography, learn a bit more about the man. Rothenstein's work is highly readable, very instructive, nicely illustrated and it has fed my interest in an artist of decided quality.
Nash, it appears, came from a relatively privileged English family, but one which was decidedly downwardly mobile - after public school he failed to secure a place at Oxford, turned to journalism (briefly) and art (his elder brother was also an artist). His early drawings show a distinct sense of humour and an engaging narrative quality ... I look for a story in his work, imagine what the characters were doing, imagine people passing through the landscapes he painted.
Nash enlisted in the Artists' Rifles (28th London Regiment) and served in France Nov., 1916, till Jan., 1918, when he returned to London to be demobilised and commissioned as a war artist. He didn't return to France but worked in a studio in London - where he painted Oppy Wood.
It's work like that, and his Stand To Before Dawn which had first caught my attention, but there's another work illustrated in the book which really spoke to me. Nash produced a pen and watercolour illustration of a Lewis Gun (a machinegun) on an anti-aircraft mount and described serving in a machinegun section as preferable to being an infantryman.
I spent the first 16 years of my life sharing a house with my Uncle Chay, who had been a machinegunner from 1914-18. One of the few tales of his war he told me was of not being able to shoot at a German aircraft which was straffing the lines because they had no mount for his machinegun, so he contrived a way to launch Mills Bombs (a handgrenade) at the plane. I can see the smile on his face as he told me how big a scare he gave the pilot because the plane disappeared and didn't come back.
And there's that human quality to Nash's paintings - a drawing of a Lewis Gun can trigger a personal tale for me, but it also reveals tales of the troops and their experiences at the front.
Nash would be engaged as a war artist again, 1940-44, but between the wars achieved renown as a book illustrator, then after the defeat of Hitler, much of his focus was on drawing flowers and plants. But the book contains a couple of his later paintings -'Mill Buildings' and 'The Barn' - which I find enthralling ... they have a narrative quality to them, you can imagine yourself walking through and around his landscape, maybe, as a child, playing in it.
Wonderful artistry, some excellent illustrations, and a book which gives you insight into the man - I'd love to see some of Nash's work in a gallery or in exhibition ... definitely something to pursue.
Nash, it appears, came from a relatively privileged English family, but one which was decidedly downwardly mobile - after public school he failed to secure a place at Oxford, turned to journalism (briefly) and art (his elder brother was also an artist). His early drawings show a distinct sense of humour and an engaging narrative quality ... I look for a story in his work, imagine what the characters were doing, imagine people passing through the landscapes he painted.
Nash enlisted in the Artists' Rifles (28th London Regiment) and served in France Nov., 1916, till Jan., 1918, when he returned to London to be demobilised and commissioned as a war artist. He didn't return to France but worked in a studio in London - where he painted Oppy Wood.
It's work like that, and his Stand To Before Dawn which had first caught my attention, but there's another work illustrated in the book which really spoke to me. Nash produced a pen and watercolour illustration of a Lewis Gun (a machinegun) on an anti-aircraft mount and described serving in a machinegun section as preferable to being an infantryman.
I spent the first 16 years of my life sharing a house with my Uncle Chay, who had been a machinegunner from 1914-18. One of the few tales of his war he told me was of not being able to shoot at a German aircraft which was straffing the lines because they had no mount for his machinegun, so he contrived a way to launch Mills Bombs (a handgrenade) at the plane. I can see the smile on his face as he told me how big a scare he gave the pilot because the plane disappeared and didn't come back.
And there's that human quality to Nash's paintings - a drawing of a Lewis Gun can trigger a personal tale for me, but it also reveals tales of the troops and their experiences at the front.
Nash would be engaged as a war artist again, 1940-44, but between the wars achieved renown as a book illustrator, then after the defeat of Hitler, much of his focus was on drawing flowers and plants. But the book contains a couple of his later paintings -'Mill Buildings' and 'The Barn' - which I find enthralling ... they have a narrative quality to them, you can imagine yourself walking through and around his landscape, maybe, as a child, playing in it.
Wonderful artistry, some excellent illustrations, and a book which gives you insight into the man - I'd love to see some of Nash's work in a gallery or in exhibition ... definitely something to pursue.
Displaying 1 of 1 review