Sinister Paris Night

Location

Country: Other
City: other locations abroad

Like a lighthouse casting beams of light, a street lamp radiates shafts of light across an otherwise dark, cobbled Parisian street. A man and a woman walk away furtively from the scene, as if escaping its scrutinous gaze. Most probably painted during a visit to the city in 1919, the style of Christopher Nevinson's painting reveals the artistic influence of Cubist and Futurist art, examples of which he saw at first hand during his visit. The lamp in this painting is also a visual motif from Nevinson's childhood: he recalled the first time that he saw an electric light while staying at a Parisian hotel with his mother before the War. Fascinated by what light hides as much as what it reveals, his use of a single lamp here expresses the sense of unease and drabness which he felt pervaded the city shortly after the Armistice.

Nevinson was born in London and studied at St John's Wood School of Art and the Slade School of Art up to 1912. While studying at the Academie Julian, Paris, in the following year, he met radical, experimental artists notably Gino Severini and Amedeo Modigliani. In 1914 Nevinson co-founded the London Group, and issued a Futurist manifesto, 'Vital English Art', with the Italian artist, Filippo Marinetti. During the War, Nevinson served with the Royal Army Medical Corps and exhibited his work in London. His first solo show, primarily of war paintings, was held in September 1916 in London to great acclaim. Subsequent exhibitions secured his reputation as an innovative artist whose distinct compositional style captured the violence and fear of war. He was created Chevalier of the Legion d'Honneur in 1938, and Associate of the Royal Academy in 1939. At the end of his life he turned to the more traditional subjects of landscapes and flowerpieces. Suffering depression as a result of the outbreak of the Second World War, his health broke down and he died in London in October 1946.

Christopher Richard Wynne Nevinson, painter and printmaker, has been described as 'a vital and contentious figure, among the most important British artists of the twentieth century.' Nevinson studied art in London and then in Paris. In March 1914 he became a founding member of the London Group of artists, and in June of that year issued a Futurist manifesto, Vital English Art, with the Italian Futurist artist, Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. During the First World War, Nevinson served in Flanders and France as an ambulance driver and became a member of the Royal Army Medical Corps. In March 1915 his first war paintings were shown at the London Group. In June and July of that year he exhibited as a Futurist at the Vorticist exhibition (Vorticism was a British derivation of Cubism and Futurism) and contributed to the second and last issue of the Vorticist magazine Blast. Nevinson's first solo show, primarily of war paintings, was held in September 1916 at the Leicester Galleries in London, and was a great success. That year he was 'invalided' out of the Army and appointed an Official War Artist in 1917. He became the first artist to draw from the air. In 1919 he visited Paris and New York. He was created Chevalier of the Legion d'Honneur in 1938, and Associate of the Royal Academy in 1939. Suffering deep depression and breakdowns as a result of the outbreak of the Second World War, his health broke down due to overwork and he died in London in October 1946.

Places

France, Paris

Subjects

topography, genre, townscape/cityscape, night, man, woman, lamp post, street, pavement, window

Materials & Techniques

canvas, oil, oil painting

Artist

Christopher Richard Wynne Nevinson (1889 - 1946)

Title

Sinister Paris Night

Date

Medium

Oil on canvas

Dimensions

height: 76.50 cm, width: 61.50 cm

Acquisition

Purchased from Leicester Galleries, January 1965

Inscription

br: C R W Nevinson

Provenance

Possibly the painting Parisian Nights shown at Nevinson's one-man exhibition at the Leicester Galleries in 1919 (no. 11), and lent by M. Mannaberg Esq. to the Nevinson Exhibition, Manchester Art Gallery, July & August 1920 (no. 34); F. Williams; purchased from Leicester Galleries, January 1965

GAC number

6829