Christopher Richard Wynne Nevinson, was born on 13 August 1889, to the war correspondent and journalist Henry Nevinson and the suffrage campaigner and writer Margaret Nevinson. He studied at the St John's Wood School of Art and after being inspired by the work of Augustus John, he attended the Slade School of Art. At Slade he met Mark Gertler, Stanley Spencer and Paul Nash.

At the outbreak of the First World War, Nevinson joined the Friends' Ambulance Unit, where he tended to the wounded French soldiers. For a short period he served as a volunteer ambulance driver, but due to ill health he returned to Britain. Whilst recovering, he painted a series of works based on his experiences in France.

Nevinson's first one-man show shocked the people of London with very graphic images of the war, emphasising the tragedies of war. This exhibition brought Nevinson to the attention of the government's War Propaganda Bureau, and in 1917 they sent him to the Western Front as Official War Artist.

In the 1920s and 30s, Nevinson designed a number of posters that promoted leisure activities and travelling. They depicted idyllic scenes of the Home Counties with activities such as boat trips, walking and picnicking.

Nevinson became Official War Artist for a second time during the Second World War, but his career ended when he suffered a severe stroke in 1942. He died in London four years later.