Paul Nash AT Tate Britain
A few years ago there was an exhibition of Paul Nash sculptures at Kew Gardens. I was quite fond of these sculptures as they looked brilliant i in the naturalistic setting of Kew - especially that one time I visited in the snow and everything looked spectacular. Iv'e been keen to see the current exhibition at Tate Britain since it opened and on Thursday after work I finally got my chance.
Most of the exhibition seemed to focus primarily on his paintings rather than his sculpture - and of the two I think I prefer his sculptures. I did learn a couple of things which mostly serve to highlight my own ignorance. Firstly, I had no idea that he was so closely linked to the surrealist movement and secondly I had no idea that he had served as an official war artist in the first world war (or even that lived in that period). Both of these insights shed a load of light on his work from me. Now that I know these things I can absolutely see their influence in much of his work that I have seen but prior to this exhibition I had never put the pieces together in my mind. I only wish is that I could go back and have another look at his work at Kew. I may have to dig out that old catalogue.
This wek I have been mostly re-reading: The Blood Never Dried - A People's History Of The British Empire by John Newsinger
Most of the exhibition seemed to focus primarily on his paintings rather than his sculpture - and of the two I think I prefer his sculptures. I did learn a couple of things which mostly serve to highlight my own ignorance. Firstly, I had no idea that he was so closely linked to the surrealist movement and secondly I had no idea that he had served as an official war artist in the first world war (or even that lived in that period). Both of these insights shed a load of light on his work from me. Now that I know these things I can absolutely see their influence in much of his work that I have seen but prior to this exhibition I had never put the pieces together in my mind. I only wish is that I could go back and have another look at his work at Kew. I may have to dig out that old catalogue.
This wek I have been mostly re-reading: The Blood Never Dried - A People's History Of The British Empire by John Newsinger