John Northcote Nash RA RWS

1893 - 1977

John Nash was born in London, the younger son of lawyer William Harry Nash, who served as recorder of Abingdon, and Caroline Maude Jackson, who came from a family with a naval tradition. In 1901, the family moved to Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire. Nash was educated at Langley Place in Slough and afterwards at Wellington College, Berkshire. His mother died in a mental asylum in 1910, when Nash was working as a newspaper reporter for the Middlesex and Berkshire Gazette. His brother Paul became a student at the Slade School of Fine Art in the same year. Although John had no formal art training, he was encouraged by his brother to develop his abilities as a draughtsman. Paul introduced John to Claughton Pellew, who became a life-long friend, and to Dora Carrington, with whom he fell in love and whose later work he influenced. John's early work was in watercolour and included Biblical scenes, comic drawings and landscapes. A joint exhibition with Paul at the Dorien Leigh Gallery, London, in 1913 was successful, and John was invited to become a founder member of the London Group in 1914. In the Artists Rifles, Nash served at Passchendaele and Cambrai and from 1918 he was an official war artist, painting some of the most famous images of WW1. In 1918, he married Carrington’s friend, Dorothy Kuhlenthal. Their only child, William, died aged four, after falling out of a moving car. Nash established himself as a countryman painter and wood engraver, after serving again ... show more

John Nash was born in London, the younger son of lawyer William Harry Nash, who served as recorder of Abingdon, and Caroline Maude Jackson, who came from a family with a naval tradition. In 1901, the family moved to Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire. Nash was educated at Langley Place in Slough and afterwards at Wellington College, Berkshire. His mother died in a mental asylum in 1910, when Nash was working as a newspaper reporter for the Middlesex and Berkshire Gazette. His brother Paul became a student at the Slade School of Fine Art in the same year. Although John had no formal art training, he was encouraged by his brother to develop his abilities as a draughtsman. Paul introduced John to Claughton Pellew, who became a life-long friend, and to Dora Carrington, with whom he fell in love and whose later work he influenced. John's early work was in watercolour and included Biblical scenes, comic drawings and landscapes. A joint exhibition with Paul at the Dorien Leigh Gallery, London, in 1913 was successful, and John was invited to become a founder member of the London Group in 1914. In the Artists Rifles, Nash served at Passchendaele and Cambrai and from 1918 he was an official war artist, painting some of the most famous images of WW1. In 1918, he married Carrington’s friend, Dorothy Kuhlenthal. Their only child, William, died aged four, after falling out of a moving car. Nash established himself as a countryman painter and wood engraver, after serving again

as an official artist in World War II, settling in an Elizabethan house in Wormingford in the Stour Valley in Essex. He illustrated books for many years, most typically with botanical wood engravings and with humorous drawings, for which he was well known.