Art History-The Other Brother

Unfairly neglected in favour of his ambitious sibling, the lyrical landscape paintings of JOHN NASH deserve reassessing says author ANDREW LAMBIRTH

- ​​​​​​​Andrew Lambirth

John Nash is the quintessential painter of the British landscape, whose most famous painting, 1918’s The Cornfield, represents an ideal close to the very heart of Englishness. Born in 1893, he was also a distinguished war artist (in both World Wars), a superb wood engraver and inventive illustrator of some 50 books, an inspired watercolourist and draughtsman whose work has always commanded the greatest respect and affection among fellow artists.

Why then is he so little known to the general public? The answer is simple: his brother. Paul Nash was John’s older brother and a very different character, being hugely ambitious, determinedly avant-garde and very good at self-promotion. Although the brothers got on well together (John adored Paul), Paul’s self-built reputation has long overshadowed John’s modesty. There’s a pencil drawing by John which aptly sums this up: the very tall figure of Paul looms large over John, effectively blocking out the sun in the process. That says it all.

Yet it was not always thus. When they first began to establish their reputations, before the First World War, they were considered to be pretty much level pegging, with John often having the upper hand. Naturally gifted, John was self-taught and not hampered by the distractions of art school which often confuse many young artists (Paul attended the Slade). His early talent for comic drawing blossomed into a lyrical, linear gift for landscape, and he took to oils with a greater understanding of the medium than Paul.