At the time the Great War started, Nevinson was practicing Modernism in a Cubist-inspired manner to which was an added dash of Futurism. He volunteered for ambulance work in the French army zone of operations, returned to England for health reasons, and then went back to France as a British war artist. During this time his style evolved toward traditional realism, but not quite abandoning all of Modernism's quirks. After the war, he drifted from time to time to a Cubism-lite style that was dropped again when he made some World War 2 paintings.
In the present post, his Great War paintings are featured.
Futurist influence is strong here. I can't tell if he is depicting an explosive shell or an illumination shell.
The Taube (Dove) was a type of German airplane.
Probably Nevinson's most famous painting. It shows a French machine gun team in action.
This gives us a notion as to how Nevinson constructed his compositions at that time; a whoosh of Futurist movement along with Cubist segmentation.
Although Cubist elements might be present, to me this seems Expressionist: think of the settings of the post-war (1920) German film Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari.
"The Fatherland" depicts a French army evacuation station.
Two takes on tired soldiers. The upper painting shows French soldiers apparently taking a break while either entering or leaving a combat zone. The lower image is of British soldiers behind the lines dealing with supplies (note the bales and boxes they are on and the fact that they are wearing cloth caps rather than helmets).
Modernism is ebbing away a little here.
A British Mark V (Male) tank. Nevinson had it stubbier than it actually was.
This was controversial when it was new, as this Telegraph article explains. The style is more representational than that found in the previous paintings.
3 comments:
La mitrailleuse (1915), French Troops Resting (1916) and Paths of Glory (1917) are very well known and respected now. But I wonder how the censors felt about Nevinson's work during the war years. His honest, painful paintings could not have been seen as good for public morale.
Hels -- The Telegraph link deals with the fact that Paths of Glory was indeed censored. Maybe some other were too, but not all.
Is it "pantings" of should the title be "paintings"?
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