Oil paint on canvas
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Contemporary Art Society
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/john-nash-1689" aria-label="More by John Nash" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">John Nash</a>
Cornfield
Presented by the Contemporary Art Society 1952
agriculture, gardening & fishing
Buckinghamshire
Chalfont Common
England
England, South East
evening
farmland
hedge
landscape
natural phenomena
objects
places
plants and flowers
shadow
sheaf
times of the day
UK cities, towns and villages
UK counties
UK countries and regions
<p>John Nash served in the army in the World War One. In 1918 he left the army and became an official war artist. The Cornfield was the first painting he made after that, which did not depict the subject of war. In its ordered view of the landscape and geometric treatment of the corn stooks, it prefigures his brother Paul's Equivalents for the Megaliths, also shown in this room. John wrote that he and Paul used to paint for their own pleasure only after six o''clock, when their work as war artists was over for the day. Hence the long shadows cast by the evening sun across the field in the centre of the painting.</p><p><em>Gallery label, September 2004</em></p>
painting oil paint canvas
21 June 2003 – 28 August 2007
2007-08-28
21 June 2003 – 28 August 2007
2007-08-28
2003-06-21
Tate Liverpool (Liverpool, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/liverpool/
2003-06-21
International Modern Art
Collection based display
15 June 2005 – 4 September 2005
2005-09-04
15 June 2005 – 4 September 2005
2005-09-04
2005-06-15
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2005-06-15
A Picture of Britain
Exhibition
6 October 2010 – 25 April 2011
2011-04-25
6 October 2010 – 30 January 2011
2011-01-30
2010-10-06
Millennium Gallery (Sheffield, UK)
http://www.sheffieldgalleries.org.uk
19 February 2011 – 25 April 2011
2011-04-25
2011-02-19
Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery (Norwich, UK)
http://www.museums.norfolk.gov.uk
9 May 2011 – 6 November 2011
2011-11-06
2011-05-09
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2010-10-06
GBAD: Restless Times: Modern British Art 1914 - 1945
Loan-out
13 May 2011 – 6 November 2011
2011-11-06
13 May 2011 – 6 November 2011
2011-11-06
2011-05-13
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2011-05-13
Restless Times
Collection based display
11 February 2013 – 2 June 2013
2013-06-02
12 February 2013 – 2 June 2013
2013-06-02
2013-02-12
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2013-02-11
Looking at the View
Collection based display
19 July 2014 – 14 September 2014
2014-09-14
19 July 2014 – 14 September 2014
2014-09-14
2014-07-19
Royal West of England Academy (Bristol, UK)
2014-07-19
Brothers in Art: John and Paul Nash
Loan-out
5 June 2018 – 23 September 2018
2018-09-23
5 June 2018 – 23 September 2018
2018-09-23
2018-06-05
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2018-06-05
Aftermath: Art in the Wake of World War One
Exhibition
1 May 2021 – 23 January 2022
2022-01-23
1 May 2021 – 26 September 2021
2021-09-26
2021-05-01
Towner (Eastbourne, UK)
http://www.townereastbourne.org.uk/
23 October 2021 – 23 January 2022
2022-01-23
2021-10-23
Compton Verney (Compton Verney, UK)
2021-05-01
John Nash: The Landscape of Love and Solace
Loan-out
5 May 2022 – 4 September 2022
2022-09-04
5 May 2022 – 4 September 2022
2022-09-04
2022-05-05
Tate Liverpool (Liverpool, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/liverpool/
1 October 2022 – 22 January 2023
2023-01-22
2022-10-01
Mead Gallery (Coventry, UK)
http://www.warwickartscentre.co.uk
2022-05-05
Radical Landscapes
Exhibition
7 October 2022 – 18 February 2024
2024-02-18
7 October 2022 – 18 December 2022
2022-12-18
2022-10-07
Mead Gallery (Coventry, UK)
http://www.warwickartscentre.co.uk
6 February 2023 – 30 April 2023
2023-04-30
2023-02-06
Art Explora (Liverpool, UK)
2022-10-07
Radical Landscapes
Loan-out
The Cornfield
support: 686 × 762 mm
frame: 938 × 1014 × 92 mm
Presented by the <a href="/search?gid=999999975" data-gtm-name="tombstone_link_bequest" data-gtm-destination="list-page--search-results">Contemporary Art Society</a> 1952
<p>John Nash served in the army in the World War One. In 1918 he left the army and became an  official <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/w/war-artists" title="Glossary definition for 'War Artists'"><span>war artist</span></a>. The Cornfield was the first  <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>painting</span></a> he made after that, which did not depict the subject of war. In its ordered view of the  <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/l/landscape" title="Glossary definition for 'Landscape'"><span>landscape</span></a> and geometric treatment of the corn stooks, it prefigures his brother Paul's Equivalents for the Megaliths, also shown in this room. John wrote that he and Paul used to paint for their own pleasure only after six o''clock, when their work as war artists was over for the day. Hence the long shadows cast by the evening sun across the field in the centre of the painting.</p>
Display caption
2004-09-09T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
<p><b>N06074</b> THE CORNFIELD 1918</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Inscr. ‘John Nash’ b.r.
<br/>Canvas, 27×30 (68·5×76).
<br/>Presented by the Contemporary Art Society 1952.
<br/>
<br/><i>Coll:</i> Sir Edward Marsh 1919, presented to Ivor Novello on condition that he bequeathed it to the C.A.S. for presentation to the Tate Gallery; C.A.S. 1952.
<br/><i>Exh:</i> London Group, April–May 1919 (42), as ‘Cornfield - Chalfont’; Goupil Gallery, February 1921 (44); C.A.S., <i>Paintings and Drawings</i>, Grosvenor House, June–July 1923 (9); <i>Modern Paintings and Drawings lent by Edward Marsh</i>, Newcastle, 1931 (24); <i>Anthology of English Painting, 1900–31</i>, French Gallery, November 1931 (33); Graves Art Gallery, Sheffield, 1934 (136); British Council, <i>Empire Exhibition</i>, Johannesburg, 1936 (595).
<br/><i>Lit:</i> Frank Rutter, ‘John Nash’ in <i>Studio</i>, CI, 1931, p.332; John Rothenstein, <i>Modern English Painters: Lewis to Moore</i>, 1956, p.240.
<br/><i>Repr:</i>
<i>Studio</i>, CXLVII, 1954, p.4; John Rothenstein, <i>The Tate Gallery</i>, 1962, p.254.</p>
<p>On the back there is the beginning of another <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/l/landscape" title="Glossary definition for 'Landscape'"><span>landscape</span></a> <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/c/composition" title="Glossary definition for 'Composition'"><span>composition</span></a> in flat areas of colour; this has been erased with rough brush-strokes.</p>
<p>The artist wrote of ‘The Cornfield’: ‘It was painted in 1918 - late summer when Paul and I were sharing a large herb-dying shed at Chalfont Common (near C. St Peter) and <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>painting</span></a> War pictures. I remember we were very punctilious about working for the Ministry of Information all day and did not allow ourselves to do any of our own peace time work until after 6 o'c in the evenings! This was the first painting (not war) that I did after being released from the Army’ (letter of 7 July 1952). For a related <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/w/watercolour" title="Glossary definition for 'Watercolour'"><span>watercolour</span></a> see <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/nash-the-cornfield-n06234" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N06234</span></a>.</p>
<p><b>Published in:</b>
<br/>Mary Chamot, Dennis Farr and Martin Butlin, <i>The Modern British Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture</i>, London 1964, II
<br/></p>

Catalogue entry
2004-10-08T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
agriculture, gardening & fishing Buckinghamshire Chalfont Common England England, South East evening farmland hedge landscape natural phenomena objects places plants and flowers shadow sheaf times of the day UK cities, towns and villages UK counties UK countries and regions