#johnnash

‘The powers of its wing were wonderful....’ 🦉By no means an expert at identifying different species of birds, I get confused trying to identify artists’ depictions: it’s like looking through a filter. It’s even more confusing when birds are known by different names, although in this case I can go back to the original source for the illustration: Gilbert White’s Natural History of Selborne. This is a Nightjar (Caprimulgus)- apparently also known as a Fern Owl, Goatsucker and Goat Milker. The drawing is by John Nash and was first published in 1951 as a black and white line engraving, then in 1972 with lithographed colour added. Nash told a friend that he was ‘hatched off’ with all the detailed cross-hatching. The open-beaked pose catching a fly 🪰 appears over 100 years earlier in a drawing by John Thompson (after Thomas Bewick) for a Victorian edition of Gilbert White’s book. It illustrates a letter written in 1771: “DEAR SIR,—On the twelfth of July I had a fair opportunity of contemplating the motions of the caprimulgus, or fern-owl, as it was playing round a large oak that swarmed with Scarabai solstitiale or fern-chafers. The powers of its wing were wonderful, exceeding, if possible, the various evolutions and quick turns of the swallow genus. But the circumstance that pleased me most was, that I saw it dis- tinctly, more than once, put out its short leg while on the wing, and, by a bend of the head, deliver somewhat into its mouth. If it takes any part of its prey with its foot, as I have now the greatest reason to suppose it does these chafers, I no longer wonder at the use of its middle toe, which is curiously furnished with a serrated claw.” Looking forward to the John Nash exhibition at @townergallery later this spring. #johnnash #gilbertwhite #naturalhistory #fernowl #nightjar #selborne #johnthompson #thomasbewick @gilbertwhiteoc (at Brighton and Hove) https://www.instagram.com/p/CNW8Aiol6TT/?igshid=ul7cg6fgbfre

1816 Brighton Royal Pavilion / John Nash NATURAL COLUMNS Vía @alberto_humanes #bizarrecolumns #freestyleclassicism #naturalcolumns #archilovers #architecture #archiporn #johnnash https://www.instagram.com/p/BtHVyDcBJcA/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=ehs62b2nbjsu

Beautiful Britain John Nash Lithographed cover for the 1940 Beautiful Britain Calendar for Country Life. John Nash seems to have dipped in profile in comparison to his peers and Ravilious (who illustrated the 1939 Calendar) perhaps due to his commercial art work, but this is particularly good, as are his lithographs for Men and The Fields. No printer credited but almost certainly at the Curwen Press. #johnnash #beautifulbritain #countrylife #autolithography #lithography

All Souls, Langham Place and BBC buildings.

#tbt window-writing tracklist: the beginnings of While We Still Have the Morning (september 2016)

John Nash Bristol Harbour Illustration for John Lewis' book, A Handbook of Printing Types, as used by the Ipswich printers, Cowell's in 1947. Lewis commissioned his artist friends to provide vignettes and examples of illustrative style to complement the typefaces in use at Cowell's in the tradition of the Curwen Press Newsletters, to boost their order book and show off what the press was capable of. #johnnash #bristol #cowells #ipswich #printingtypes #johnlewis