John Nash: The Landscape of Love and Solace

by Andy Friend, David Dimbleby (Foreword)

A long-overdue biography of John Nash, a major British artist of the twentieth century, tracing his connections, affinities, and influences. Having created some of the most memorable paintings of the First World War, John Nash (1893–1977) had a long career that spanned more than sixty years and saw both world wars. A highly versatile artist whose unique vision still resonates today, Nash produced landscape paintings in oil and watercolor and was also an illustrator, cartoonist, wood engraver, and arguably the nest botanical draftsman of his era. Despite his lack of formal training, he was held in high regard by his contemporaries―including Walter Sickert, Charles Ginner, Dora Carrington, and his brother, Paul Nash―but it was Nash’s wife, Christine Kühlenthal, who played perhaps the most critical role in the artist’s career. Revealed here for the  first time through her letters and journals is Kühlenthal’s influence on Nash’s career during their long, sometimes tumultuous marriage. Drawing on original research and revealing hitherto untold events that impacted Nash’s life, this book examines the artist’s personal and working relationships and provides a fascinating, intimate narrative of love, tragedy, and the pursuit of solace. Compelling and long- overdue, this biography and rediscovery of a major twentieth-century British artist brings into focus the life and work of John Nash. 230 illustrations

Genres: Art

320 pages, Hardcover

Published October 13, 2020

Reviews

[CCShiu · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is extremely readable: meticulous research combined with rare insights into Nash's artworks. It is lavishly illustrated with images of Nash's drawings and paintings, as well as relevant photographs.

[Ben Ballin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a meticulously-complied biography of a wonderful artist. If the detail of who met whom, when and where, gets a little more detailed than is perhaps always necessary, it nonetheless offers a great overview of the artist and his life, from childhood and his remarkable First World War paintings, through accomplished ventures into an extraordinary range of styles and media: comic drawings, watercolours, oils, woodblock and litho prints, book illustrations, botanical sketches and more. We also see something of his remarkable friends and companions, including Eric Ravilious, Gilbert Spencer, Dora Carrington, his brother Paul (of course) and above all his wife and fellow artist Christine Kuhlenthal, with whom he had a long, complicated, open and mutually-supportive marriage. The book, as so often with this publisher, is richly illustrated with works from Nash's career, which spanned much of the 20th century and allowed him to capture the changing landscape of Britain (especially but not exclusively rural Britain) perhaps more fully than anyone else. These artworks are, perhaps not unsurprisingly, the book's greatest treasure.

[Sara Aye Moung · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent exploration of the life and works of John Nash . As diverse as it’s subject and so clearly written