Paul Nash

The art of Paul Nash drew heavily on William Blake, Samuel Palmer and Dante Gabriel Rosetti, and on Nash's close relationship with the poetry of the English countryside, leading to his characterisation as an 'essentially English' artist. But Nash also produced some of the most imaginative responses by a British artist to the thrilling potential of European modernism, experimenting with abstraction and helping to establish the Surrealist movement in Britain. Nash's consistent advocacy of the avant-garde combined with his passionate attachment to the English landscape established him as one of the most influential British artists of the twentieth century, making this a welcome addition to the Tate's British Artists series.