Interview with Paul
Nash
1. Mr. Nash tell us a little bit about your family and where
your from?
I was born in London
in 1889. My father, William Nash, was a very successful lawyer. He was married
to his first wife and my mother Caroline Jackson. (Bruner). I had a younger brother named John who was also an
artist but unlike me he had to formal training. (Duffy, 2009).
My family was fairly wealthy. Mother and father wanted me to
be successful just as they were. They sent me to St. Paul 's
school in London .
I was a very educated young boy. From St. Paul 's
school I was sent to Slade
School
2. What events in your early life stroke interest in the
arts?
People have said I am one of the most important artists of
world war one. I have always done art starting at a very young age. I think the
most important factor of my career was going to Slade School
During the outbreak of World War One I was enlisted in the
"Artists' Rifles" and by 1917 was presented to the front of Yepres,
an agricultural market and an industrial center. I stayed there for a couple of
months but shortly I returned to France as an Official War Artist. My
mother and father were always very supportive of me and my art work. Without
them I don't think I would be have accomplished what I did, also I do not feel
I would still have been considered one of the most important artists of my
time. (Chilvers, 1999).
3. What role did mentors play in helping you develop
interests and talents you have as an artist?
I have been to many places in my life time such as Paris and Italy .
I was those places that I encountered Matisse and Picasso's art along with
Italian painter Chirico. Mentors played a big role in developing my interests
and talents for the arts. But it was not as much mentors as it was influences.
I was very influenced by Surrealism. I saw this style done by Chirico went to London in 1928.(Chilvers,
1999).
One of my mentors was William Richmond. He convinced me to
get out of my mother and fathers house and go for nature. It was then that I
started my love to create landscapes. In May 1912 it was William's advice that
helped me produce one of my most famous illustrations " The Field Before
the Wood."
4.What was the world of art like in your particular field
when you entered it?
When Britain
declared war, I was enlisted and was sent to the Western Front. The popular war
art were propaganda war posters. There was propaganda everywhere. I remember I
would always ne spotted working on sketches. Most of them being sketches of the
trenches. (voices, 2012).
Art was very dark during the war and when I started. It was
all about glamorizing the war. Which now when I look back on it to me makes no
sense because war is an awful thing. In 1917 I was given time to create a series
of paintings from my sketches. They were displayed later in 1917. I was then
considered a war artist. (voices, 2012).
5. How did the major cultural, economic and political
situations of the time impact your work?
All of my early art is impacted hugely from World War One.
When I was sent to the Front all of my work was produced for propaganda. As
people know war is always a very dark time. My paintings that were used for
propaganda were very stark and depressing. Many paintings produced during this
time were always like this if they had to do with war.(Causey, 2011).
Even though my art was fairly stark it was also Surrealist.
I focused of painting pictures of the trenches. (Encyclopedia, 2009). The
Trenches were 7 feet deep and 4-6 feet wide. Thousands of men died in these
trenches. They died form diseases, infections and unsanitary conditions (jock,
2012).
6. What were your major accomplishments and the methods you
used in your art?
My pictures made up of shorn trees and flooded landscapes
were what helped me form my reputation. My drawings were shown in Leicester
Galleries in 1918. I taught myself how to work with oil paints, it was a
success. Even though I was good with oil my drawings are what really made my
impact. In 1919 my paintings were instructed by the Imperial War
Museum
I have heard that my art work is considered poetry. My war images
are very abstract. They show the truth about the war. I see no point to
glamorizing the war. Most of the time when I look at my work I am very
unpleased.
7.What were key opportunities you had that led you to your
turning points in your life and art?
The first opportunity I had had was going to Slade school.
It was there that I learned so much about art. My first exhibition was shown
during my last year at Slade. My watercolors were very distinctive. During that
exhibition was I was very influenced by Cezanne and Blake. (Duffy, 2009).
Another opportunity I had was living on the Western Front. I
continued sketching and became noticed for my trench and propaganda drawings. I
think it was a good thing that i served ion the Front. If I hadn't I wouldn't
be considered a war artist. (Duffy, 2009)
8. What hardships or roadblocks did you have to overcome in
order to be an artist?
My mother died when I was still a young boy. Doing art was
an escape for me. That was something that was very difficult for me to
overcome. Even though she was always sick when I was growing up I was always by
her side because I knew one day she would be gone. From when she died it was me
my father and my younger brother.(London ,
2009)
Figure drawing was always a struggle for me. I spent a whole
year in school practicing my drawings. I was surrounded my other kids in
collage just like me who knew how to figure draw like it was as easy as
breathing. But somehow I got the hang of it because I put all my emotion into
it. Soon after it started to become natural to me. Staying in school for a year
and using all my time to master this technique I believe helped me in my art
career. (London ,
2009)
9. Who are people that you admire both in the arts and
beyond and why do they inspire you?
I was inspired by Matisse, Picasso and Chirico. I found them
as inspiration because they did Surrealism. I look up to Picasso because of how
his pieces are abstract. Anybody can relate to his work know matter what time
period it is. I admire all of these Surrealist artists. (London , 2011).
I look up to Matisse because he was a natural at what did.
He explains that from the time he was little and his mother handed him brushes
it all came perfectly to him. I admire him because obviously you can tell in
his work he was a truly talented man. He had struggles to and thinking about
his life always encouraged me to keep on going on with making art, no matter
how hard it was. (2011).
10.What personal stories best illustrate how you became
successful in the arts?
People do not understand that art is inspiration and art is
what you yourself want it to be. It is a difficult thing to come up with
something that nobody has come up with before. It is the best feeling once you
realize people know who you are and want your art. Art is a way that I could
escape from the rest of the world but at the same time produce something that
was going on all around the world and still make it a personal message.
(Encyclopedia, 2009)
I have tried to integrate my art into modern art of World
War One. My art is considered sad and melancholy. The reason it is sad is
because it is the truth of what happened during the war. Unlike other artists
from World War One I did not sugar coat what was actually happening in the
world. I believe that that is why people appreciate my work. (London , 2009).
1. IAN CHILVERS. "Nash, Paul." A
Dictionary of Twentieth-Century Art. 1999. Encyclopedia.com. 2 Mar.
2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com
2. "Firstworldwar.com." First World War.com. Trans. Michael Duffy.
22 Aug. 2009. Web. 02 Mar. 2012.
<http://www.firstworldwar.com/bio/nash.htm>.
3. The Independent. Ed. Charles Darwent. Independent Digital News and Media. Web. 02 Mar.
2012.
<http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/reviews/paul-nash-the-elements-dulwich-picture-gallery-london-1898711.html>.
4. Causey,
Andrew. "Paul NASH (1889–1946)." Oxfordshire Blue Plaques Scheme.
18 July 2011. Web. 02 Mar. 2012.
<http://www.oxfordshireblueplaques.org.uk/plaques/nash.html>.
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Andrew. "British Council British Council Visual Arts." British
Council − Art Collection − Collection. 2011. Web. 02 Mar. 2012.
<http://collection.britishcouncil.org/collection/artist/5/18421>.
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2012. <http://www.tate.org.uk/magazine/issue6/nash.htm>.
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10. s, anna. "paul nash." www.rennart.co.uk.
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<http://dulwichonview.org.uk/2010/02/19/a-fresh-look-at-the-landscape-paul-nash-at-dulwich/>.
