The Woodgatherers

Thomas Saunders Nash 1891 - 1968

Summary

A simplistically painted woodland scene depicting a sturdy peasant woman and two young girls gathering wood. The woman stands between the two girls, carrying a sack of wood over one shoulder and a bundle in her right hand, the small girl to the right carrying a second sack, whilst the girl to the left bends over to gather wood from the ground. Large indistinct trees are behind them to the right, and a curving grassy path and distant trees to the left. 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.