Christopher Richard Wynne (C.R.W.) Nevinson (1889-1946) was part of the first generation of strongly modernist British painters, befriending and later feuding with, for example, Wyndham Lewis. Nevinson was influenced early in his career by Futurism and Cubism, though he seldom plunged very deeply into their desiderata. Perhaps innate English conservatism and practicality held him back more than he thought or wished.
A fairly long Wikipedia biography is
here, and I wrote about his Great War paintings
here.
This post features his depictions of various cities. As is often the case for artists of his time, he never really settled into a signature style. Actually, he
did have a style used during the first two or three years of the Great War that he is best known for. But he didn't stick with it. The images below are arranged in approximately chronological order.
Gallery
The Railway Bridge, Charenton - 1911-12
Le vieux port - 1913
Bravo! - 1913
Paris Fortifications - 1913
Temples of New York - drypoint etching, 1919
Soul of the Soulless City (New York, an Abstraction) - 1920
New York by Night - ca. 1920
Quartier Latin ca. 1920
La Corniche - 1920
Victoria Embankment, London - 1924
Notre Dame de Paris from Quai des Grandes Augustins - 1920s
London, Winter - 1928
The Strand by Night - ca. 1937
Thameside - 1941
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I suppose the thing about changing styles over the years is that the viewer cannot always pick a Nevinson painting instantly. The machine gunners and the troops resting, on the other hand, can both be identified as Nevinsons at 100 metres with your eyes closed.
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