LOST SCULPTURE IS RE-DISCOVERED AND RE-ASSEMBLED FOR TATE BRITAIN SHOW
Paul Nash’s most important surrealist sculpture thought lost for over 70 years has been rediscovered and will go on show for the first time since 1942 in Tate Britain’s new exhibition. Moon Aviary 1937 was found in pieces in a cardboard box earlier this year in London. The work has been reassembled and conserved specially for this major retrospective of Nash’s work. Nash exhibited Moon Aviary 1937 at surrealist exhibitions in Britain in the late 1930s and early 1940s but until now it was thought destroyed, like the majority of Nash’s other surrealist assemblages. Made from cedarwood, ivory, stone and bone, the sculpture will be shown alongside all three other surviving assemblages, giving an unprecedented opportunity to see this little-known aspect of Nash’s art. Moon Aviary 1937 is related to Nash’s earlier drawing, Mansions of the Dead 1932, which depicts souls conceived as ‘winged creatures’ visiting the ‘airy habitations of the skies’, which are illustrated as open frameworks swinging from the clouds. In the sculpture, Nash has recreated this dream-like environment in three dimensions by using wooden egg crates to form the framework, and bobbins balanced on triangular forms to represent perching birds.
NEVER BEFORE SEEN DOUBLE SIDED PAINTING TO BE EXHIBITED
For the first time one of Nash’s double-sided paintings will be exhibited to show both Circle of the Monoliths 1936-7 on one side and The Two Serpents 1929 on the other. Circle of the Monoliths 1936-7 has never been publicly exhibited before and is an example of one of Nash’s most intensely surrealist landscapes, in which reality and dream co-exist. Shown alongside other examples of Nash’s renowned paintings of the ancient monoliths at Avebury, it will enable visitors to make new connections between the largest group of these works to ever be shown together. This display explores Nash’s portrayal of the relationship between object and landscape, the trace of human impact on the land and the idea of a life force in natural objects.
TATE GIVES FREE ENTRY TO PAUL NASH EXHIBITION FOR VETERANS ON REMEMBRANCE SUNDAY
In recognition of Nash’s role as an official war artist Tate Britain, in association with The Royal British Legion, will provide free entry to Paul Nash to all Veterans and members of the armed forces on Remembrance Sunday, 13 November 2016. Renowned as a war artist in both the First and Second World Wars, the exhibition will display some of his most iconic works. Highlights include the 3 metre long The Menin Road 1919, Battle of Germany 1944 which explores the dynamics of flight and aerial combat and Totes Meer 1940-1 which was commissioned by the Ministry of Information and shows a twisted mass of crashed planes becoming waves in a metal sea.
For press information contact Sara.Warsama@tate.org.uk or Emma.Double@tate.org.uk or call +44(0)20 7887 8732/4942. For high-resolution images visit tate.org.uk/press
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