Unquiet Landscape: Places and Ideas in Twentieth-Century English Painting

by Christopher Neve

Focuses on how it is that artists, by thinking in paint, have come to regard the landscape as representing states of mind. The book is a journey into the imagination through the English landscape. Each chapter has a theme - such as music - and explores its significance for one or more artists.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Art History, Biography

166 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1991

Reviews

[Glen Schroeder · Rating 5 out of 5]

On the surface, this book is about landscape paintings, but it is so much more than that. With true understanding, contemplation, appreciation, and artistry, Neve takes us through various British painters of the 20th century and the hows and whys of their portrayal of landscape, and occasionally seascape. I have never known anything of the painting world or how to approach appreciating it, and it took me several months to read this 200-page book, but that is only because it is so thoroughly worth savoring. Neve discussing art is an art in and of itself as he weaves philosophies and poetry with the artists' psychologies, quoting all the big names you're supposed to have read with justified certitude in his application. Each paragraph is a poem, personalized as an homage to the respective artist of a given section, but perhaps the best, most elucidating one is the final paragraph of the book, a short epilogue of sorts:

"The landscape is meaningless again, and unresponsive. Nothing we can do will rouse it from its absolute inertia. Shout, and no echo comes. Love it lifelong, and not one blade of grass will change direction because of our feelings. The land will entrance us and in the end bury us, with impartiality. If it seems to have great beauty, that is because of what we are, not because of what it is. The appetite for life goes over us and dies out much as the artist's appetite goes over the landscape and dies out. The landscape remains; and the pictures remain. The pictures I have discussed have altered the way we look at many places, and yet to look in an artist's place for his inspiration is all but pointless because his source is in his own mind. You could say that this book is pointless. Any account of how they were seen like that, and of how they were re-imagined, is not so much about places as about us. The birds have stopped singing in the lost lands. The unquiet country is you."

[Martyn Cross · Rating 5 out of 5]

Possibly the best book on painting I’ve ever read. And I’ve read a few. Poetic, erudite and thoughtful, Neve has written here a meditation on how different painters react to the landscape they live within, and the very thinglingness of paint. Truly magnificent.

[Beth Storey · Rating 4 out of 5]

‘One of the problems about painting is its ambiguity. It does not provide a clue in the paint which says, either, I mean what I say, I mean the opposite to what I say, or I mean anything you take me to be saying because I am deliberately open to interpretation.’

This compact, beautifully published volume is brimming with reflections on the landscape painting tradition within British art in the 20th Century. Titans of the genre, such as Eric Ravilious, Paul Nash, David Jones and John Piper are all included with thoughtful readings of their contributions to the genre. As well as artists who are perhaps better known for panting much more populated scenes, Walter Sickert and Stanley Spencer among them. The chapter discussing Spencer’s love of his hometown of Cookham and the ways landscape permeated his exploration of the place, was particularly illuminating. Having never considered Spencer to be an artist particularly concerned with the landscape in his work, Neve’s assessment that landscape was an important element to Spencer’s development of understanding of the place he so loved was a new and interesting idea to me.

The chapters focusing on Cumbrian artist, Sheila Fell, L. S. Lowry’s lonely landscapes and the long conversations the author had with Ben Nicholson which inspired the book, are full of reflective ideas about landscape art and the magic quality a fine painting of a landscape can possess. Neve has the ability to explore the painting of a significant group of artists, and interpret their work and intention with a deft lightness of tough, so much so that the experience of moving from one artist to the next, feels like talking a long walk through each of their beautiful canvases. I can’t recommend it enough and only wish I’d read it sooner.

[Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

As Neve points out this is not an art history, not so much of dates etc, but utterly fascinating reading, a mixture of the biographical mixed with is own perspectives and interpretations. Shortish chapters are given to each of the artists finishing with David Bomberg. The uniqueness of this book is with Neve's own recollections of being with the artists themselves. As well as the overall look at the artists and their landscapes the chapters have a thematic subheading which adds further dimensions to the book. I really wanted a 'Further reading' section to carry on with, but as already mentioned this is not a text book, so a reread will be due again.

[Caspar "moved to storygraph" Bryant]

a new edition of the 1990 text & it feels like this book is a little, outdated in some ways. a note at the front tells us this new edition 'features expanded content on the artist Sheila Fell' - this phrasing's a little odd but I would guess she's just absent from the original? This is all to say there is a disappointing but unsurprising lack of women artists , and the intro does the maddeningly 19thc Thing of referring to The Painter as some kind of masculine HE archetype- he tries , in some ways. but hM

thiS being said it's neat enough & polished as a work of crit, if never TOO deep. more survey, as each artist is given a short chapter of ~10 pages. I think that's intentional. some are very lovely and memorable - Griggs, Spencer, Eardley, Nicholsons. I do find Neve a little too inclined to lean into aphorism without sufficient backing . ... the phrase 'The landscape commits suicide every day' comes across as egotistical, not erudite

[Rosamund · Rating 5 out of 5]

Writing about painting in a way that is satisfying in a literary sense and illuminates the art and artists is a special talent. This book brought me joy and many happy pauses to search for images to add to the lovely colour plates in the new edition.

[Kathryn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m not an artist, but I have a lifelong enjoyment of art and the artistic process. I won’t say this was an easy read, some of the second section I found particularly obscure, but it is beautifully and tenderly written and the fact that this book and its writer and all the art and artists it mentions simply exist makes me feel hopeful for the world!

[Grace Halsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

as someone who may have have been perhaps a bit dismissive of landscape, my view has changed and i've seen the light.

[Ruth Brumby · Rating 3 out of 5]

Christopher Neve has a few related ideas about landscape painting which he explores in relationship to each of his selected 20th century artists. I feel that it is mostly about his ideas, probably related to his intentions in painting his own work. There is interesting information about the artists, their lives and ways of working and relationships to place, but Christopher Neve always sums up in his own 'poetic' style which makes quite simple things sound complex and sometimes contains sentences that i can't make sense of at all. As he himself says, he gets carried away and writes nonsense. It did make me want to paint and to find out more about the artists. It was written ion 1990 but does not take in to account late 20th century/ 21st century thinking, so it feels quite dated. It's a very single minded book, including references to poetry and religion, but none few to the context of 20th century art ideas about place.

[David Cutler · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is perhaps the best written book I have read about art.

It’s scope is quite modest being 21 artists starting with Paul Nash in 1913 and ending with David Bomberg in 1950s and 60s (though including a work by Sheila Fell from 1979). They are mostly pretty well known though with a couple of artists that are new to me including Sheila Fell. I am sure that it helps that I like all of them but the supreme quality of the book is Neve’s insight as an artist and unparalleled descriptive powers about why these artists are working in the ways they are.

As mentioned in another review, he knew and visited some of these artists but that is not a dominant aspect of the book and rarely mentioned. Also biographical detail is quite sparing.

A spell binding book, deeply uplifting during lockdown.

[Joan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a reissue of a really good read. Its a slightly old fashioned book, but I have to say it was one of the most enjoyable reads I had in 2020.
The book is about landscape painting and the author has picked a selection of twentieth century British landscape painters and then mused about their work. Its so restful and entertaining as well as informative. It will take you back to the painters themselves and make you look at their work again. I was particularly pleased that he included Joan Eardley, and even though each chapter is quite short, I rally did learn new things about each painter.
I bought this book in Simpson's in Bishop's Castle, Shropshire, and now every time I see it on the shelf , it reminds me of that lovely holiday and the very nice guy in the shop who sold it to me!
Its a book for sunshine and lazy days

[Katy Wheatley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a series of essays looking at the art of the landscape, both those who painted them and the paintings they made. Each chapter either focuses on one artist and their work or one theme and artists the author believes worked to illustrate those themes. I had heard of only a handful of the people in the book. This did not stop me enjoying the essays and in some cases going to find out more about the artist. Some of the essays went a little over my head at times. It's not always an easy read but it is rewarding and interesting and gave me new things to think about and appreciate. There are sections in the book of colour plates of some of the artist's works although in this paperback edition they are quite small, so I tended to look them up on the internet so I could see the images better.

[Tom]

Snuck the last few essays from this in before the end of the year too. I picked up this book for the essays on Ravilious and Paul Nash. The other artists discussed were largely unknown to me, the exception being a rather revelatory little piece on Lowry. The essays often seem to circulate around the effect that the war had on the British national psyche and Neve, knowing the limitations of discussing art, often focuses on trying to understand the psychology behind the characteristic styles of the respective artists. Very stimulating.

[PJ Ebbrell · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book covers the important British landscape artists of the 20th Century. I learnt a lot and understood the background of some artist I dismissed as abstract expressionistic. The book will bear multiple readings, and you will delve deeper into the depths that is the British Landscape tradition.

[Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Luminous writing on a subject that is probably impossible to capture in words, painting. However, the author does manage it and has in the process created a work of art in itself. Very good indeed.

[Bronwyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have zero interest in British landscape painting but this book is really about our feelings about landscape and how we relate to the outside world. He discusses 13 different painters all of whom he met and talked to about their work. Though none of them could articulate their process of painting, he uses their work as a starting point to imagine their relationship to the landscapes they painted and through that how we all might relate to the external world, its beauty, its contradictions and its ultimate utter indifference to how we feel about it. I took a long time to read this book because I kept setting it down to think about what I had just read and to marvel at the felicity of his expression and also to look, to look steadily and to think about what that means and how little of it I now do.

[Naomi · Rating 4 out of 5]

“There is no understanding pictures any more than there is understanding the song of the grass-hopper or the sound of the sea.” So the author introduces his book where he attempts to do exactly that. (Before podcasts, dudes had to publish whole books on their pet subjects.)
This is a fabulous and frustrating book. Some great thoughts, great selections, often beautifully written - but in somewhat pretentious prose and without much aim. It pursues some intriguing avenues of thought about art, in a kind of fun rambling-pedantic-conjecture way. This leads to a blurry, gnomic, immaterial read about these lovely ‘unquiet landscapes’ and the minds, experiences, and methods that produced them (and us?) Worth a read if you love a museum wander and have a high tolerance for (very pretty) bloviation.

[Helen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've always enjoyed grappling with abstract concepts in philosophy and psychology, but I found the concepts covered in this book difficult to get to grips with. Perhaps the ideas that are discussed in the book are something that artists or students of the history of art can understand more easily. This is a book that (on my part) requires a second reading.

[Martin Raybould · Rating 5 out of 5]

To look at landscapes objectively is no easier than it is to decide what in life counts as banal and what is extraordinary. Paintings (like books and movies) are a process of selecting what goes in and what is edited out. Christopher Neve is an illuminating and informed guide to how this process is applied to British paintings. His focus may be narrow but his ideas are vast.

[Vero]

In a way, this was pretty much a 5 ✨ read - if we're rating this book's ability to fix my insomnia. In other ways... 😭, so I think it's not fair for me to rate this anything.

Anyway. I'm not a fan of landscapes and wanted to see if this gives me some insight which might shift my perspective 🙂🙃🙂...it did not go well.

[Iona · Rating 5 out of 5]

I waited until it was spring and sunny to read this because I thought it would fit the landscape vibe and I'm so glad I did. I read most of it either looking out of a train window or watching the light reflecting off the loch and it added a bit of magic to both the book and real life

[kieran · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favourite art book, though really it’s about nearly everything else

“The land will entrance us and in the end bury us, with impartiality. If it seems to have great beauty, that is because of what we are, not because of what it is. The appetite for life goes over us and dies out much as the artist's appetite goes over the landscape and dies out.”

[Loki · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is pretty good at bringing a sense of life to landscape paintings, which admittedly I thought of as boring for a long time.

[Peter B Waddell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Precise, rich, poetic, appropriate and perfectly tailored exploration of the personalities and ideas behind the work of key C20th British landscape artists. An informative pleasure.

[Tim Newell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful detail of wonderful British Artists and an expert writing about their work. Great insight. Pity not more of the images in the book!

[Richard Drinkwater · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this to be a very challenging book. It took me a while to get through it but worth it. I shall return.