Paul and John Nash at RWA Bristol

We took some time out today to pop into the RWA for an exhibition of paintings by John and Paul Nash. Their exhibitions are always worth a peak especially as they only cost £5 to get in (kids go free and I had £1 off a ticket so absolute bargain).

Make it Kid Friendly

Now before I get onto the paintings themselves I do have a bone to pick with the RWA. They do a lot to encourage kids to get into art; loads of workshops and classes where kids can get hands on. But, and it is deliberately standing at the front of the sentence so as to be a “big” but, why make us walk through an exhibition called “Shock and Awe” to get into the one we wanted to see. My son, who is nearly 10, prefers to think of the world as a nice, warm, snugly place. Taking him past a 10 foot statue of death built out of scrap metal is enough to give me nightmares, let alone him. It had already cost me a lunch at Brown’s to get the husband there, and the promise of a post RWA trip to Forbidden Planet to get my son to go. I will count myself lucky if I ever get to go to an exhibition again.

The Exhibition Itself

Once we got past the trauma we went into the side rooms with the Nash paintings. The early paintings of the two brothers were very similar and it was interesting to see how they developed, against a back drop of two world wars, and moved apart. John Nash’s paintings were for the most part very controlled and reminiscent of Clarice Cliff designs in their compact shapes. Nature is, well, natural and disorderly and chaotic and all sorts of other things. But in most of John Nash’s work he brought order and structure to the scenes. This is reflected in his move to woodcutting prints. He obviously went to a darker place after the war and his paintings start to skirt around the edges of surrealism, with a focus on still water landscapes, before finally settling back into the more peaceful, pastoral scenes of his early years.

Paul Nash moved to a more abstract style early on reflecting that disorder and chaos I mentioned earlier. His paintings retained this, even during his time as a war artist, reflecting the sheer overwhelming pandemonium of war, He flirted with cubism in some paintings which didn’t really appeal to me and I definitely preferred his earlier works. While his style of painting was more akin to my own it was the John Nash paintings that I would hang on my wall.

Having seen this exhibition I am no longer worried that I don’t mix perfectly natural greens, or that my clouds can sometimes look heavy or lumpy. I have realised that I need to look more at the overall painting and whether it conveys the look and impression that I want, instead of the minutiae of realism.

Favourite painting: I am embarrassed to say that I can’t remember the title but it was of a Cornish cove. His ability to mark out the surf leaving the paper/canvas unblemished shows why he made such a good woodcut carver and illustrator.

Husband: Not impressed
Son: Actually looked at the paintings for once. Wonders never cease.