Paul Nash (1889–1946)
Kimmeridge Folly, Dorset
£3,500
Auction: 29 April 2021 at 19:00 BST
Description
lithographic poster, 1937, condition A; not backed, framed
Dimensions
76cm x 114cm (30in x 45in)
Footnote
Literature:
Hewitt, The Shell Poster Book, 85.
This poster was part of an advertising campaign series entitled ‘To Visit Britain’s Landmarks, You Can be Sure of Shell’. The series comprised a selection of follies and sometimes unusual attractions, encouraging the public to explore the British countryside.
Paul Nash studied at Chelsea Polytechnic and the Slade. He fought in World War I, but after being wounded at Ypres he became an official war artist. He gained early recognition as a landscape artist and became a member of several influential groups. In the 1930s he was drawn to Surrealism and founded the group Unit One in 1933, exhibiting at the International Surrealist Exhibitions in 1936 and 1938. He also designed textiles, book jackets, theatre sets and ceramics and wrote The Shell Guide to Dorset in 1936. He produced landscapes influenced by burial mounds and stones in fields and became very interested in photography.
Kimmeridge Folly, more formally known as Clavell Tower, is situated on the Isle of Purbeck, Dorset. The tower, built in 1830 by the Reverend John Richard Clavell, is made from local with stone with 12 elegant columns and a pierced parapet. t is now a Landmark Trust property and in August 2006 was carefully moved 25 metres back from the crumbling cliff edge.