- Artist
- Paul Nash 1889–1946
- Medium
- Pastel, graphite and watercolour on paper
- Dimensions
- Support: 400 × 578 mm
- Collection
- Tate
- Acquisition
- Presented by the War Artists Advisory Committee 1946
- Reference
- N05716
Display caption
In 1940 Nash was made an Official War Artist to the Royal Air Force. He made many studies of planes and wrecked enemy aircraft, although he was not allowed to fly in a plane himself because of health problems. His drawings and paintings of the period are vivid re-interpretations of the scenes he witnessed. He was particularly interested in the bizarre relationships between man-made and natural forms, and making static objects appear animated. Here the crashed German plane takes on a totem-like presence, accentuated by the strange shadows.
Gallery label, September 2004
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Catalogue entry
N05716 THE MESSERSCHMIDT IN WINDSOR GREAT PARK 1940
Not inscribed.
Pencil, chalks and watercolour, 15 3/4×22 3/4 (40×58).
Presented by the War Artists' Advisory Committee 1946.
Exh: National War Pictures, National Gallery, 1945, and R.A., October–November 1945 (175); British Council, Nine Artists, Prague, 1946 (37).
Lit: Bertram, 1955, pp.271–2.
Painted for the Air Ministry late in 1940 and delivered in January 1941 as one of a set of five watercolours called ‘Marching against Britain’.
Published in:
Mary Chamot, Dennis Farr and Martin Butlin, The Modern British Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture, London 1964, II
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