Printed from Woolley & Wallis

Description

‡Christopher Richard Wynne Nevinson A.R.A. (1889-1946)

Portrait of a wounded soldier

Signed

Oil on canvas

50.5 x 40.5cm

Painted c.1916

This painting was executed almost 100 years ago by Nevinson who had been at the heart of the action on the Western Front.

Nevinson's early works in the Futurist mould took a diversion with the onset of the First World War but he was determined to continue with the 'Futurist technique' to express the reality of War. However by 1916 his mètier was in retreat to a form of moderate modernism which won him much critical acclaim. His works at the time of the War are bleak, outspoken and often angry but his paintings of 1915-16 count among the masterpieces of his career. The unknown sitter is depicted gazing calmly at the artist but with a wealth of emotion in the eyes. He was to turn more to portrait painting after the War and this painting is a rare glimpse of Nevinson succeeding as a portrait artist at a watershed moment of his career