A self-proclaimed “war artist without a war,” Paul Nash’s words made me feel a little uneasy the first time I read them. The artworks by Nash and his featured contemporaries do not depict war-torn, rubble-adorned landscapes, but instead portray rather sombre scenes of pastures and industrial towns. As the exhibition’s title suggests, there is definitely a sense of the uncanny present in Nash’s paintings and photographs, which remain completely devoid of people where one might expect scenes full of life.
Picture: Paul Nash – Winter Sea: Image from https://www.yorkartgallery.org.uk/exhibition/paul-nash-and-the-uncanny-landscape/[/caption]
You’ve probably seen ‘Winter Sea’ all over the York Art Gallery and on buses around York. At first glance, the scene almost looks like sheets of white ice scattered haphazardly on a dark sea, and there is an undeniable sense of desolation. Jarring lines and harsh colour contrasts permeate the landscape, and you’ll quickly feel as if the tide is moving swiftly – and almost threateningly – towards you. Unforgettable and unconventional in its own right, one can clearly see how ‘Winter Sea’ is representative of a shift away from the pre-war traditions of easy-to-admire pastoral paintings, and why it’s been chosen to represent the uncanny.
Picture: Haymaking: Image from https://www.artuk.org/discover/artworks/haymaking-8321[/caption]
Tristam Hillier’s ‘Haymaking’ is a surreal landscape that I haven’t been able to get out of my mind since I visited the exhibition over two weeks ago. Here, a field drenched in inviting shades of pastel yellow and green is left abandoned. The baby-blue sky in the background remains completely clear, save for the black birds that roam the skyline like vultures circling a carcass in old Western movies. Large crimson wheelbarrows are left scattered across the field alongside mounds of golden hay in disarray, and their opaque shadows are a sharp contrast against the pale green grass. One can’t help but feel perturbed by the juxtaposition of such a seemingly typical and welcoming pastoral scene with the fact that there is simply no one to welcome the viewer into the painting.
Nash’s haunting film photographs similarly reflect his penchant for depicting unusual landscapes. By the 1930s, Nash began to suffer from terrible asthma (possibly as a result of the first World War) and could no longer spend a lot of time outdoors, so one could say that his 1A pocket Kodak series 2 – a gift from his wife Margaret – allowed his to pursue a new, less physically strenuous form of artistic expression. Nash had a keen eye for capturing the peculiarities and mystique of the English countryside, which he would later transform into sketches and larger works of arts. Depicting decrepit staircases in overgrown gardens, vast and empty fields, and strange, looming manors, viewing Nash’s photographs for long periods of time would definitely make you feel as if you’ve been abandoned in a strange parallel world, maybe an episode of the Twilight Zone.
What I particularly enjoyed after viewing Nash’s unsettling, atmospheric photographs was the inclusion of trinkets and illustrations that depict his strong bonds with family and friends. Admiring his brother John’s playful homemade Christmas cards, featuring cute birds and reindeer that made me smile, and learning that Nash's wife Margaret would go on excursions to take reference photographs for Nash in his old age made my heart melt. As cheesy as it may sound, these personal items allowed me to realise that Nash wasn’t just a detached artist whose works I was casually viewing in a gallery, but a real person who had fostered genuine relationships and drew inspiration from those around him.
Picture: John Stezaker mask, image from https://www.yorkartgallery.org.uk/exhibition/paul-nash-and-the-uncanny-landscape/[/caption]
Curated by John Stezaker, it’s no surprise to also see this prominent collage artist’s works in the exhibition too. And I’m proud to say that I had never seen anything like his works before. Equally haunting and provocative, Stezaker’s collages feature thoughtfully put together landscapes and portraits. Stezaker’s ‘Underworld’ landscape collages blur the lines between where fragment meets fragment; pale-toned rustic architecture fuses with darker forest greenery and the view of a town’s rooftops blends in with a seaside. I would stare at each collage for minutes and note where scenes would fuse; I treated each artwork like an optical illusion I was determined to overcome. Stezaker’s works artfully trick you into imagining the outline of an entire landscape when it was actually made of various scenes, and things were missing from where you thought they would be. Similarly impressive are his works of portraiture, where the top half of a woman’s face would be replaced by a coastal landscape and leave her with a malicious grin and outlines of birds would take the place of human facial features.
To conclude, this unique exhibition at York Art Gallery has a lot of thought-provoking artworks to offer. With such an intriguing theme and diverse expression of what it means to evoke the uncanny, you can be sure that ‘Paul Nash and the Uncanny Landscape’ will not be like anything you’ve ever seen before.
‘Paul Nash and the Uncanny Landscape’ is on display at York Art Gallery until 15 April 2018.
Stephanie Yeap