Christopher Richard Wynne Nevinson, A.R.A.

Private Collection
Their sale, Cheffin's Cambridge, 28th June 2007, lot 437, where acquired by the present owner

Richard Ingleby (et. al.), C.R.W. Nevinson, The Twentieth Centuary, Merrell Holberton Publishers Ltd., London, 1999, p.32.

The sheet appears fully laid down to a support sheet, itself adhered to a backing card via two hinge strips at the top edge. There appears a small, very fine horizontal line in the bottom left corner only visible unless under extremely close inspection. There are areas of pooling to the black ink, in keeping with the nature of the artist's materials, but this excepting the work appears in excellent overall condition. Housed behind glass in a thick black wooden frame, set within a cream card mount. Please contact the department on +44 (0) 207 293 6424 if you have any questions regarding the present work.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

In 1914 Nevinson volunteered to serve with a mobile ambulance unit run by the Society of Friends, and arrived in France in early November, initially working as a stretcher bearer before being given a motor ambulance to drive, transporting French soldiers and civilians from the village of Waesten to Dunkirk. Returning to London, he soon volunteered to serve as a private in the Royal Army Medical Corps, and was based at the Third London General Hospital in Wandsworth. Here he became familiar with the recognisable sight of Red Cross ambulances, collecting the wounded from Wandsworth Station and delivering them to the hospital in a series of 'movements repeated so often and so automatically that they have become a kind of abstract mechanical motion' (The Manchester Guardian, 13^th April 1920, cited in Jonathan  Black, ‘A Curious Cold Intensity, C.R.W. Nevinson as a War Artist 1914-1918’, Richard Ingleby (et.al.), C.R.W. Nevinson, The Twentieth Century, Merrell Holberton Publishers Ltd, London, 1999, pp.27-37, p.31). At Wandsworth he contributed to The Gazette, an ambitious and amusing monthly magazine for the staff and patients of the hospital. Edited by his close friend War Muir, Nevinson provided a small series of illustrations for the first volume, including Night Arrival of the Wounded, used to illustrate an article describing the procedure for dealing with the wounded once they arrived. Published in November 1915, the present work is very closely related to this drawing, as well as to his painting Night Arrivals (1915, Private Collection).

The stark monotone palette combined with the minimalist handling and reduction of form signal Nevinson's avant-garde crudentials and indeed, his position as the only British artist to have signed the Futurist manifesto. Whilst he is most well known for his dynamic series of etchings from the Western Front such as Column on the March (1916) and Returning to the Trenches (1916), Night Arrivals presents the realities of the Home Front, displayed through his scintillating balance of realism and modernism.