Paul Nash

This is a critical edition of the art writings of the painter Paul Nash (1889-1946). Alongside the very different Wyndham Lewis, Nash was the only major British artist of his generation who was also a regular critic of, and essayist on, art. He knew and read the leading critics of his day, and evolved a distinctive position in relation to them. His relationship to British modernism and the mutual stimulus of art and criticism, the opening up of his criticism and that of others to poetic and literary influences under the influence of Surrealism is discussed by Andrew Causey. Nash's writings span the years 1919 to 1946, with the majority dating from the 1930s; they were framed by his profession of painting and his activities as an art teacher, a product designer, and his involvement, as organiser and polemicist, in the art world. All of these helped for form the individuality of his writing.