Paul Nash and John Nash: Design illustrated edition

Design is an introduction to the graphic work and design of two major British artists, Paul Nash (1889-1946) and his brother John (1893-1977).Paul Nash was one of the outstanding British artists of the twentieth-century. An official war artist in both World Wars, he created some of the iconic images of the century. His awareness of Continental avant-garde movements, and his links with fellow artists and writers, placed him in the forefront of the Modern Movement in England. Yet, at the same time, his mystical love of the English landscape cast him as a direct heir to Palmer and the Pre-Raphaelites. The combination and contradictions of these two strands make Paul Nash's vision, which found expression in oils, watercolour and wood engraving, unique, and kept him as a painter within the figurative tradition. However, his interest in abstract form and modern materials found full expression in the designs he made for book jackets, textiles, ceramics, glass and, most dramatically, Tilly Losch's bathroom. Herbert Read described his illustrations to Urne Buriall as 'one of the loveliest achievements of contemporary English art.' He taught at the Royal College of Art in the 1920s and numbered Bawden, Ravilious and Enid Marx among his pupils.John Nash, unlike his brother, was largely content to pursue his career as a painter of the English landscape and as a botanical draughtsman. He too was an official war artist in World War I, but preferred to serve in the 1940s as a Staff Officer in the Royal Marines, feeling he had already expressed all he could with regard to conflict. He was an outstanding wood engraver, a talent he exploited as a book illustrator: his Poisonous Plants: Deadly, Dangerous and Suspect, being a tour de force in the medium. He served on the staff of the Royal College of Art for many years, and in 1967 was honoured with a retrospective exhibition of his work at the Royal Academy, London.This book, with over 160 illustrations, looks at the work of the brothers from an original standpoint, concentrating on aspects of their oeuvre that are often overshadowed by their reputations as painters.
An excellent introduction to the careers of two major British artists and designers.