Skip to main content

Wood on the Downs

Artist (London, England, 1889 - 1946)
Date1929
Mediumoil on canvas
ClassificationsPaintings And Drawings
DimensionsOverall: Height: 71.5 cm, Width: 92 cm
Frame: Height: 93.2 cm, Width: 113.5 cm
AcquisitionPurchased in 1960 with income from the Murray Fund.
CopyrightOut of copyright - CC0
LocationView by Appointment - Aberdeen Treasure Hub
Object numberABDAG002949
About MePaul Nash studied art at the Slade School in London amongst a distinguished class of students that included Stanley Spencer and Edward Wadsworth. During the 1930s he was responsible for establishing an artistic group called 'Unit One' which represented the avant-garde in British art. Under the influence of Cubism and Surrealism, he developed an intensely personal vision of the natural world.

This landscape is Ivinghoe Beacon in Buckinghamshire, which Nash first visited with his brother and fellow artist, John Nash. Some of the stylisation and mannerisms of Surrealism are evident here, in the distinctive grouping of trees depicted on a monumental scale. Nash developed a particular interest in trees. He wrote: 'I sincerely love and worship trees and know that they are people.'


More About Me
The artist, who was influenced by Cubism and Surrealism, once said 'I sincerely love and worship trees and know that they are people’. This love is evident in his painting.
Exhibitions
Ploughing on The Downs by Robert Polhill Bevan
Robert Polhill Bevan
c. 1907
Surrey Downs
James McBey
1915
In the Woods at Muthill, Perthshire
Sir James Lawton Wingate
1880 - 1886
Autumn
William Stewart Macgeorge
1900-1924
Woodland Scene by Joseph Farquharson
Joseph Farquharson
Autumn
Sir George Reid
1876
Autumn Morning
Julia Mavrogordato
Walled Pond, Little Bredy, Dorset by John Northcote
John Northcote Nash
1923
The River Deveron at Huntly
Lamorna Birch
1925-1949
A Norfolk Landscape
Sir John Alfred Arnesby Brown
1912
Spring by Robert Sivell
Robert Sivell
c.1940-1945
Afterglow
Joseph Farquharson
1912
Sous-Bois by Georges Lacombe
Georges Lacombe
1908-1910
Lochnagar
William Smith
Currarie Glen, near Ballantrae by Joseph Farquharson
Joseph Farquharson
c. 1872
Harvesting, Forest Of Birse by Joseph Farquharson
Joseph Farquharson
c. 1900
Rainstorm on Dartmoor
David Farquharson
1906
On the Dee near Woodend by Joseph Farquharson
Joseph Farquharson
1867
The Arrochar Gleaner by Robert Herdman
Robert Herdman
1862