John Nash

Shell Guide to Cambridgeshire

Original poster

c. 1960s 76x51cm

Shell commissioned a series of posters to go with their County Guide books, and they commissioned paintings by the leading artists of the day.

Nash needs no introduction as an artist. A painter of landscapes and still-lives and illustrator – particularly of botanic works – who worked extensively with wood engravings, he was a natural choice for Shell. His most famous work is probably ‘Over the Top’ which hangs in the Imperial War Museum, relating to a counter-attack by 1st Battalion Artists’ Rifles at Welsh Ridge on 30 December 1917. Of the eighty men who went over the top, sixty-eight were killed or wounded within the first few minutes. Nash escaped and painted the picture three months later.

The Tate holds his 1918 painting ‘The Cornfield’ which was his first non-war painting (he only started painting in oils in 1914).

Condition: mounted in conservation mount and wrapped in plastic sleeve (mount hides short edge tears).