Department: Visual Art

Paul Nash (1889-1946) is most well known as a British painter. He made photographs for the last 16 years of his life, after being given a Kodak camera in 1930 by his wife, Margaret. He sometimes used photographs to aid his painting, however, he also considered them as works in their own right. Nash was known to wait for prolonged periods of time for the optimum weather and light conditions and his photographs clearly show a thought-through aesthetic. His work does not often feature figures, rather his interest lies in found objects, both natural and manmade. Whether dead trees, bones, ropes or rocks, Nash's photographs inject the inanimate objects with a sense of personality. His eye for detail brings to life mundane objects that might otherwise be overlooked. A selection of Nash's photographs were published as a portfolio entitled 'A Private World', which was purchased by Museums Sheffield in 1978.