Christopher Richard Wynne Nevinson, A.R.A.

Lithograph, 1918, a fine impression of this important subject, signed and dated in pencil just within the image, on Antique de Luxe laid paper, with full margins, in good condition

Redfern Gallery, London, where acquired by the present owners in May 1986

Robin Garton et al., British Printmakers 1855-1955, Garton & Co., Devizes 1992, p.212, pl.360
London, The Leicester Galleries at the Alpine Club Gallery, Nash and Nevinson in War and Peace, October – November 1977, Nevinson section cat.no.37
Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum, The Print in England 1790-1930, March – May 1985, cat.no.243
London, British Museum, Avant-Garde British Printmaking 1914-1960, September 1990 – January 1991, cat.no.26
Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, Rhythms of Modern Life: British Prints 1914-1939, January – June 2008, cat.no.17

A deckle at top and bottom edge. In overall good condition apart from a soft vertical crease running from upper left corner of image to the edge of the image at centre (measuring approximately 210mm). Slight mount-staining, a very short tear at lower left extreme edge of sheet, a slight crease at lower left tip of sheet, a small lightly skinned area at lower right extreme edge of sheet, very pale backboard-staining.
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This simple but powerful image was the result of Nevinson's later visits to the Western Front during July 1917 in his role as an Official War Artist. Billeted at the Chateaux d'Harcourt, south of Caen and well behind the front lines, Nevinson nevertheless used his official car and driver to cover a great deal of ground in searching out subjects. Whilst his official status allowed him great access along the Front, the strictures on his work were greater, and some of the paintings which resulted from this trip lack the impact of the earliest work. However, as The Road from Arras to Bapaume stretches away from us into the distance, Nevinson has created an image which sums up not only the destruction but also the utility of war. Ridge after ridge of blasted empty landscape open up before us, the only remnants of the previous landscape being just the few stumps of trees discernible in the middle distance. The road itself is in good repair, as its essential nature for the movement of men and munitions places its maintenance high on the priority list. The trees that once bordered it are now gone, turned to logs to provide a fence to keep it apart from the land around. Along it, and in orderly fashion, men and vehicles move in both directions, part of the machine of warfare.

Nevinson's tour from which The Road to Arras to Bapaume resulted was in the period running up to the Third Battle of Ypres, better known to history as Passchendaele, and thus as the preparations for this offensive would have been in progress, the maintenance of roads such as this as vital routes of supply and communication would have been vital.

 

This superb example of lithography was almost lost to us. Three of his lithographic stones were damaged in an air raid, including that for The Road toArras to Bapaume, which was cracked just into the sky. Rather than begin again, Nevinson added a further ridge to the image to disguise the crack.