Bathers

Thomas Saunders Nash 1891 - 1968

Summary

A group of six naked women bathers in a landscape setting, with a tree trunk on the left and woodland in the background. One woman lies back on the ground in foreground to right, whereas the others are seated or standing, drying themselves down with towels. The artist outlines the shapes in the work with thin, black lines. Thomas Nash trained at the Slade School of Art and won 'First Prize in Drawing and Painting from Life' in 1912. His talent for drawing was 'discovered' when he was in hospital recovering from a serious skating accident. His training at the Slade was paid for by a benefactor, Violet Eustace. Through most of his life, Nash supported himself through teaching and only painted actively during the period 1920-1940. A move to Yorkshire in 1930 with his second wife effectively cut him off from the artistic life of London and the artist friends of his Slade years. Nash's work consisted, in the main, of religious subjects and landscapes with figures. His enduring heroes were the Italian 'primitives', in particular Giotto, Lorenzetti and Fra Angelico.