Art

Edition unknown but not exceeding 75 copies. Signed and dated lower right in pencil by Nevinson. First exhibited at the Leicester Galleries, London, March 1918. "Nevinson first learned lithography in 1912 All Nevinson's lithographs were made on stone, not zinc or transfer paper. 'I got back (to London in 1918) to find that a bomb had fallen on the printing works where my lithographs were kept and my stones were damaged. The reason for the extra ridge on my lithograph of the Arras-Bapaume Road is because I had to put it in to cover the injury done to my original stone" (Frances Carey & Anthony Griffiths, "Avant-Garde British Printmaking: 1914-1960", British Museum, London, 1990, p. 53). The lithograph is redrawn after the original oil painted in 1917, now in the Imperial War Museum. Nevinson's portrayal of the British supply route between Arras and Bapaume, with its soft contours, is a conscious echo of the traditions of English landscape painting, consistent with his change in style in 1917, forgoing the earlier influences of Italian Futurism. However, the road stretching beyond the horizon through bleak, featureless terrain also reflects the artist's first hand experience of the harsh conditions of the Western Front. He had served as a Red Cross orderly (1914-15), and with the Royal Army Medical Corps in France and Flanders (1915-16) before illness led to his military discharge in 1916. While employed as an official war artist Nevinson's work came under the close scrutiny Edition unknown but not exceeding 75 copies. Signed and dated lower right in pencil by Nevinson. First exhibited at the Leicester Galleries, London, March 1918. "Nevinson first learned lithography in 1912 All Nevinson's lithographs were made on stone, not zinc or transfer paper. 'I got back (to London in 1918) to find that a bomb had fallen on the printing works where my lithographs were kept and my stones were damaged. The reason for the extra ridge on my lithograph of the Arras-Bapaume Road is because I had to put it in to cover the injury done to my original stone" (Frances Carey & Anthony Griffiths, "Avant-Garde British Printmaking: 1914-1960", British Museum, London, 1990, p. 53). The lithograph is redrawn after the original oil painted in 1917, now in the Imperial War Museum. Nevinson's portrayal of the British supply route between Arras and Bapaume, with its soft contours, is a conscious echo of the traditions of English landscape painting, consistent with his change in style in 1917, forgoing the earlier influences of Italian Futurism. However, the road stretching beyond the horizon through bleak, featureless terrain also reflects the artist's first hand experience of the harsh conditions of the Western Front. He had served as a Red Cross orderly (1914-15), and with the Royal Army Medical Corps in France and Flanders (1915-16) before illness led to his military discharge in 1916. While employed as an official war artist Nevinson's work came under the close scrutiny of the War Office censor, Major A. N. Lee. Lee objected to the painting's initial portrayal of a left-hand traffic flowthe correct alignment on the Western Front was to the rightand Nevinson dutifully repainted the vehicles. READ MORE Original lithograph on Antique Deluxe laid paper. Image size 47.2 x 38.5 cm. Sheet size: 57 x 44.4 cm. Small repair to lower part of the sky, an excellent richly inked impression, untrimmed. Presented in hand-finished stained oak frame with UV conservation glass.