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Paul Nash, the son of a successful lawyer, was born London in 1899. Nash was educated at St. Paul's School and the Slade School of Art, where he met Stanley Spencer, Mark Gertler, William Roberts and C. R. W. Nevinson. Influenced by the work of William Blake, Nash had one-man shows in 1912 and 1913.

On the outbreak Nash enlisted in the Artists' Rifles and was sent to the Western Front. Nash, who took part in the offensive at Ypres, had reached the rank of lieutenant in the Hampshire Regiment by 1916. Whenever possible, Nash made sketches of life in the trenches. In May, 1917 he was invalided home after a non-military accident. While recuperating in London, Nash worked from his sketches to produce a series of war paintings. This work was well-received when exhibited later that year.

As a result of this exhibition, Charles Masterman, head of the government's War Propaganda Bureau (WPB) recruited Nash as a war artist. In November 1917 he returned to the Western Front where he painted several more pictures. Nash's work during the war included The Menin Road, The Ypres Salient at Night, The Mule Track, A Howitzer Firing, Ruined Country and Spring in the Trenches.

Nash was unhappy with his work as a member of War Propaganda Bureau. He wrote at the time: "I am no longer an artist. I am a messenger who will bring back word from the men who are fighting to those who want the war to go on for ever. Feeble, inarticulate will be my message, but it will have a bitter truth and may it burn their lousy souls."

After the war Nash experimented with surrealism and abstract art. Nash also taught at the Royal College of Art and worked as a designer and book illustrator.

During the Second World War Nash was employed by the Ministry of Information and the Air Ministry and paintings produced by him during this period include the Battle of Britain and Totes Meer. Paul Nash died in 1946.

 

Paul Nash, The Mule Track (1918)

 

 

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(1) Paul Nash, letter to Gordon Bottomley (August, 1914)

I am not keen to rush off and be a soldier. The whole damnable war is too horrible of course and I am all against killing anybody, speaking off hand, but beside all that I believe both Jack and I might be more useful as ambulance and red cross men and to that end we are training. There may be emergencies later and I mean to get some drilling locally and learn to fire a gun but I don't see the necessity for a gentleminded creature like myself to be rushed into some stuffy brutal barracks to spend the next few months practically doing nothing but swagger about disguised as a soldier in case the Germans poor misguided fellows - should land.

 

(2) Paul Nash, letter to Gordon Bottomley (27th September, 1914)

I have joined the Artists' London Regiment of Territorials the old Corps which started with Rossetti, Leighton and Millais as members in 1860. Every man must do his bit in this horrible business so I have given up painting. There are many nice creatures in my company and I enjoy the burst of exercise - marching, drilling all day in the open air about the pleasant parts of Regents Park and Hampstead Heath.

 

(3) Paul Nash, letter to Gordon Bottomley from the Western Front (Easter, 1915)

In the midst of the monstrous event stands Man; the thousands and the hundreds of thousands, the combatants and the non-combatants; who all have one wish and one goal; to cast aside the war; to render its effect invisible so far as they can be understood; to let a well-earned Peace grow its grass over the victims and to carry on as before.

 

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