Paul Nash and John Piper were two of the most significant British artists of the 20th century. Both the sons of lawyers and both official war artists, they embraced paint, illustration, print and more. Nash's experiments with Surrealism and Piper's Cubist inspired abstracts placed them at the forefront of the British Modernism movement, yet both were also committed to the tradition of landscape painting. As two exhibitions open in Birmingham, Dave Freak compares and contrasts the two artists and their work. - - - Paul Nash - - - Born: Kensington, London, 1889, the eldest son of a moderately wealthy barrister. Younger brother, John, was also an artist. Education: Studied at Slade where he met Stanley Spencer, Mark Gertler and CRW Nevinson. Influences: William Blake, Samuel Palmer, Rossetti and Cezanne. A fascination with nature is a constant theme. Career: Failing to enter the Navy, Nash went to study art, but commercial success was interrupted by the outbreak of The Great War. Enlisted, he was sent to the Western Front, reaching the rank of Lieutenant. Whenever possible, he made sketches of life in the trenches before being sent home in 1917 after falling from a parapet. The War Propaganda Bureau were impressed by the paintings he made while recuperating and sent him back to the Western Front as an official war artist, an experience he did not relish. During peace time, Nash experimented with Surrealism and Abstraction as well as working as a designer and book illustrator (eg. TE Lawrence's The Seven Pillars of Wisdom). He also became involved in theatre design, textiles, glass, ceramics and wood as well as journalism. Poet Sir John Betjeman commissioned him to write the Shell Guide to Dorset. As war broke out a second time, Nash became an official war artist again, producing a series of haunting images of downed fighters and twisted wreckage. He died in 1946. Quote: Nash On War: "We all have a vague notion of the terrors of battle ... but no pen or drawing can convey this country. Evil and the incarnate fiend alone can be master of this war, and no glimmer of God's hand is seen anywhere." The Exhibition: Paul Nash: Earthly Powers - Paintings, Drawings & Graphics From Collections in the West Midlands, bringing together thirty works from BM&AG, Dudley, Wolverhampton and Stoke and featuring many rarely shown pieces. From 28 February to 6 June 2004, at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery. - - - John Egerton Christmas Piper - - - Born: Epsom, Surrey in 1903, the son of a wealthy solicitor. Education: Eventually accepted to the Royal College of Art, who initially turned him down due to his lack of experience at drawing the nude. Influences: William Blake, Turner, Cotman, Braque (who encouraged him to experiment with collage), Picasso and Hitchens. He was also fascinated by architecture from an early age, especially churches, an interest that stayed with him all his life. Career: Rejecting a career in the family's law business, he trained to become an artist late in his 20s, funding his studies by writing art & film reviews. Joining the Seven and Five group, whose number included Ben Nicholson, Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth, established Piper as part of the avant-garde elite. Like Nash, he also contributed to Betjeman's Shell county guides. During World War II he became an official war artist, depicting the devastation of the Nazi bombing. The morning after Coventry Cathedral was destroyed in 1940 - Piper was there to record the damage. The success of these works resulted in a Royal commission for 12 paintings of Windsor Castle, and also Renishaw, the home of Osbert Sitwell who used Piper's work in his autobiography. Piper's output was not just limited to canvas and paper. He also produced scenery and costumes for a string of Benjamin Britten operas over a four decade period as well as working with ceramics, textiles and stained glass. The huge baptistry window of the new Coventry Cathedral is regarded by many as one of the greatest stained glass windows in Britain. He died in 1992. Quote: On seeing one of Piper's pictures of Windsor, with it's trademarked dark sky, a trick the artist used to accentuate the architecture, King George VI, missing the point entirely remarked: "You've been pretty unlucky with the weather, Mr Piper." The Exhibition: John Piper, 26 February to 10 April 2004 at St Paul's Square's The New Gallery, Birmingham. * For more on Piper, visit The John Piper Gallery at Renishaw Hall, Derbyshire. Open April to September. Tel 01246 432310. Full details on the house, grounds, and admission can be found at: http://www.sitwell.co.uk/ | 
