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Trench Idyl?

Drawing
1919 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

These are Nash’s original drawings for a book of poems by Richard Aldington, based on his experiences in World War I. Each shows a scene from the battlefields of northern France. They include several motifs familiar from Nash’s paintings of the war – barbed wire, rain and mud, ruins and blasted trees. Some, such as Barrage and Terror, employ the dynamic abstraction of Vorticism to represent explosions and other violent events.


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleTrench Idyl? (assigned by artist)
Materials and techniques
Pen and ink, paper, drawing
Brief description
'Trench Idyl'; one of eleven drawings by Paul Nash adhered on one sheet. Illustrations to 'Images of War' by Richard Aldington, a book of poetry about World War I.
Physical description
One of eleven small pen and ink illustrations adhered to a sheet.
Dimensions
  • Illustration height: 50mm (Note: Taken from Departmental Circulation Register 1975)
  • Illustration width: 75mm (Note: Taken from Departmental Circulation Register 1975)
  • Illustration width: 75mm
  • Support sheet height: 291mm
  • Support sheet width: 355mm
  • Sheet height: 291mm (Note: Taken from Departmental Circulation Register 1975)
  • Sheet width: 355mm (Note: Taken from Departmental Circulation Register 1975)
Production typeUnique
Marks and inscriptions
  • Original pen drawings for Richard Aldington. Images of War, (inscribed in pencil by Paul Nash)
  • In the Trenches, Picket, Earth Goddess, Fatigues, Trench Idyl?, Barrage, Proem, Bombardment, Ruined House, Living Sepulchres, Terror (titles next to each illustration)
Gallery label
These are Nash’s original drawings for a book of poems by Richard Aldington, based on his experiences in World War I. Each shows a scene from the battlefields of northern France. They include several motifs familiar from Nash’s paintings of the war – barbed wire, rain and mud, ruins and blasted trees. Some, such as Barrage and Terror, employ the dynamic abstraction of Vorticism to represent explosions and other violent events. (08/08/2022)
Credit line
The Paul Nash Trust
Object history
The object is eleven illustrations pasted onto one sheet. When the object came into the collection each illustration was given an individual extension but CIRC.294andAtoJ-1975 are one object. The proof sheet CIRC.294K-1975 is a separate object.
Subjects depicted
Summary
These are Nash’s original drawings for a book of poems by Richard Aldington, based on his experiences in World War I. Each shows a scene from the battlefields of northern France. They include several motifs familiar from Nash’s paintings of the war – barbed wire, rain and mud, ruins and blasted trees. Some, such as Barrage and Terror, employ the dynamic abstraction of Vorticism to represent explosions and other violent events.
Associated objects
Bibliographic references
  • Aldington, Richard Images of war, a book of poems by Richard Aldington Westminster, London, Beaumont Press, 1919
  • Taken from Departmental Circulation Register 1975
Collection
Accession number
CIRC.294D-1975

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Record createdNovember 26, 2015
Record URL
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