Estimated Price:

   £   

Realised Price:

   £   

What is this symbol? This symbol indicates that this auction hose has verified this price result.

Log in or subscribe to view price data

DYMCHURCH

19.5x32.5cm.; 7 3/4 x12 3/4 in.

signed and inscribed For my friends Mr & Mrs Austin

pencil and watercolour

PROVENANCE

Gifted by the artist to Mr and Mrs Austin and thence by descent to the present owner

NOTE

Nash first visited Dymchurch in 1919 and in 1920, he and his wife Margaret moved away from London to live there. This particular stretch of the Kent coast is relatively flat and the main feature is the long sea wall depicted in the present work that runs along the gentle sweep of the bay.

Nash was clearly still much troubled by his war experiences and coupled with a deep-seated childhood fear of the sea, Dymchurch seems to be an unlikely spot to choose to recuperate. However, the Nashs settled in and his work progressed well. The conflict between the land and sea seemed to fascinate Nash, and the monolithic landmarks of the Napoleonic Martello tower and the WWI blockhouse on this stretch of coast feature in many of the works he produced there.

Of the oil paintings produced at Dymchurch, the present work is closest to The Shore (Coll. Leeds City Art Galleries) of 1923, one of the finest works he produced there that perfectly balances the concerns of landsape and abstraction with which Nash was clearly wrestling.