No. 40 "In the air" [From 'The Great War: Britain's Efforts And Ideals shown in a series of lithographic prints: 'Building Aircraft' series]

Artist Christopher Richard Wynne Nevinson (1889 - 1946)

Date1917

MediumLithograph on paper

Dimensions40 x 29.9 cm

ClassificationsPrint

Credit LineCollection & image © Hugh Lane Gallery. Donated by the British Ministry of Information.

Object number495

DescriptionThis planographic print (lithograph) on paper, is part of a series entitled 'The Great War: Britain's Efforts And Ideals shown in a series of lithographic prints: 'Building Ships' series. There are a total of six lithographs in this particular series, and in total there are ten series. The lithographs are numbered as if the entire ten series are one, so this print is number 40.

By the time Nevinson wrote to the Department of Information in April 1917 asking to contribute to the Efforts and Ideals series, his reputation was well established in both England the United States of America, and he was readily accepted. His chief advocate was another contributor, Muirhead Bone, who was a friend and admirer of Nevinson’s although as was the case with many of his artistic colleagues, Nevinson turned against Bone and labelled him “Bonehead Muir.” Of all the lithographs produced for Efforts and Ideals, Nevinson’s were especially admired. These prints document visually the
process of building aircraft with three images that show making the engine, assembling parts and welding the pieces together to the flight of the aircraft. The subject suited Nevinson’s Futurist style and when exhibited one critic wrote that Nevinson “contrives to make the visitor almost giddy” and another wrote that he possessed “the power of expressing sensations rather than visual facts.” Two of the most striking images are Acetylene Welder and Assembling Parts and both show the contribution that women workers made to the war effort.
Margarita Cappock 2014

This print depicts the view as seen from an aeroplane, with the plane's wing just in sight in the upper right part of the image. Two more planes can be seen in flight below; the ground is a patchwork of fields with tiny trees and minuscule figures can be seen on the roads below.

Christopher Richard Wynne Nevinson was born in Britain He attended St John's Wood School of Art 1907-8, the Slade School 1908-12 and the Academie Julian, Paris, 1912-13, where he shared a studio with Modigliani, worked at the Cercle Russe and made friends with Severini. Interested in Cubism and Futurism, he was one of the first English artists to be deeply influenced by new developments in Europe at that time; his work was included in the Post-Impressionists and Futurists exhibition at the Dore Gallery in 1913.

During World War I, he served in France for the Red Cross and the Royal Army Medical Corps. His experiences during the war became a primary subject for his work. These unpleasant interpretations of trench warfare were acclaimed at his solo exhibition, held in 1916 at the Leicester Galleries in London. Nevinson returned to France in 1917 and began working as an Official War Artist and a year, he held another one-man exhibition in London. After the war, he abandoned Futurism and began creating more traditional work.

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