John Nash: (1893-1977)

John Northcote Nash NEAC CBE RA (11 April 1893 – 23 September 1977) was a British landscape and still life painter, as well as a wood engraver and illustrator, particularly of botanic works. He was the younger brother of the artist Paul Nash NEAC. He was elected to the New English Art Club in 1921 and became a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1964.

Early Life

Nash was born in London, the younger son of lawyer William Harry Nash. His mother came from a family with a naval tradition. Nash was educated at Langley Place in Slough and afterwards at Wellington College, Berkshire. He particularly enjoyed botany but was unsure which career path to take.

At first, he worked as a newspaper reporter for the Middlesex and Berkshire Gazette in 1910. His brother Paul became a student at the Slade School of Art the same year. John Nash had no formal art training but was encouraged by his brother to develop his abilities as a draughtsman. His early work was in watercolour and included biblical scenes, comic drawings and landscapes. A joint exhibition with Paul at the Dorien Leigh Gallery, London in 1913 was successful, and John was invited to become a founder member of the London Group in 1914.

He was an important influence on the work of the artist Dora Carrington (with whom he was in love), and some of her works have been mistaken for his in the past.

​First World War

Nash's health initially prevented him enlisting at the outbreak of the First World War but from November 1916 to January 1918 he served in the Artists Rifles, the unit that his brother had joined in 1914. He served as a sergeant at the Battle of Passchendaele and at the battle of Cambrai. On the recommendation of his brother, Paul worked as an official war artist from 1918. In 1914, Nash began painting in oils with the encouragement of Harold Gilman, whose meticulous craftsmanship influenced his finest landscapes.

Nash's most famous painting is ‘Over the Top’ which now hangs at the Imperial War Museum. It is an image of the counterattack at Welsh Ridge on 30 December 1917, during which the 1st Battalion Artists' Rifles left their trenches and pushed towards Marcoing near Cambrai. Of the eighty men, sixty-eight were killed or wounded during the first few minutes. Nash was one of the twelve spared by the shellfire and painted this picture three months later.

Post-War Life and Career

Nash married Carrington's friend Dorothy Christine Kühlenthal in May 1918. Their only child, William, was born in 1930. He died falling from the back of a moving car, aged 4.

From 1918-1921, Nash lived at Gerrard's Cross, with summer expeditions to the Chiltern Hills and Gloucestershire. In 1919, he became a member of the New English Art Club, and in 1921 he became the first art critic for The London Mercury. He moved to Meadle, near Princes Risborough, also in Buckinghamshire in 1921, which remained his permanent home until 1944. He frequently visited the valley of the River Stour in Essex and Suffolk, where he bought a summer cottage.