John Nash

John Nash was born in London in 1893. Despite not being formally trained, Nash was encouraged by his older brother Paul to develop his artistic capabilities. John gained a reputation as an artist from a young age and went on to be a founding member of The London Group in 1914.

 

In 1916 Nash joined the First World War efforts and went from serving as a volunteer in the Artists Rifles to a sergeant at the Battle of Passchendaele. In 1918, Nash started working as an official war artist. His first hand experience at the counter-attack at Welsh Ridge on 30 December 1917 led to Nash's most famous painting Over the Top which now hangs in the Imperial War Museum. 

 

After the War Nash became a founding member of the Society of Wood Engravers. He continued to make prints in different media including lithographs, etchings and engravings on metal - his subject matter often rural landscapes. He enjoyed a long career as an artist and also taught at the Royal College of Art. Nash became a member of the Royal Academy in 1950, and his retrospective exhibition in 1967 was the first for a living painter. 

 

Nash died on 23 September 1977.