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THE BAY 1922

Paul Nash (1889 – 1946)

Details

Dimension
12 X 17.7 CM
Media
WOODCUT
Accession number
P2663

Summary

Nash was primarily a painter, but he used wood engraving with a particular freedom to experiment with an abstraction he was not sufficiently sure about to commit to paint. There is vibrancy in this print maybe lacking in some of Nash’s paintings, with the threatening lurch of the sea and wind.

Out of the Wood British Woodcuts and Wood Engravings 1890-1945, The British Council 1991

 

Glossary

  • Abstraction

    To abstract means to remove, and in the art sense it means that artist has removed or withheld references to an object, landscape or figure to produce a simplified or schematic work. This method of creating art has led to many critical theories; some theorists considered this the purest form of art: art for art’s sake. Unconcerned as it is with materiality, abstraction is often considered as representing the spiritual.

  • Engraving

    An intaglio process whereby lines are cut into a metal or wood plate using an engraving tool (a burin), which is pushed in front of the hand to achieve a sharp controlled incision capable of great delicacy. This technique requires a great deal of control and is not suited to spontaneous mark-making.