John Nash was born in London and educated at Wellington College.
On the advice of his older brother, fellow artist Paul Nash, he
avoided art school as a formal art training would destroy "the
special thing" that John possessed. He was a founder member
of the London Group and also showed with the Camden Town Group.
He was a very accomplished wood engraver and lithographer and served
as an official war artist in both the World Wars. On one occasion
in 1917, Nash was one of eighty men ordered to cross No-Mans-Land
at Marcoing near Cambrai. Of these, only Nash and eleven men returned.
Afterwards Nash painted Over the Top
in memory of the failed attack.
From 1924 to 1929 he taught at Ruskin School of Art in Oxford,
and from 1934 to 1940 taught at the Design school at the Royal
College of Art. In 1951 he was elected to the Royal Academy.
