Christopher Richard Wynne Nevinson, 1889-1946

Dog Tired

Oil on canvas, 1916

Christopher Nevinson trained at the Slade between 1909 and 1912. The 1912 Futurist exhibition in London was a turning point in his career. The Italian artists' celebration of the machine age prompted Nevinson to paint London's Strand in the same angular, frenetic style. In Paris, he met Filippo Tommaso Marinetti and joined the group. At the outbreak of the First World War, Nevinson volunteered with the Red Cross, treating wounded French soldiers. When he was invalided home he stated that he would use Futurist technique to show the true horror of war. Dog Tired uses the zigzagging angles of Futurism to suggest the dragging, heavy fatigue of the sleeping soldiers, in a pyramid of figures. He was appointed Official War Artist in 1917, travelling to the Western Front.

Purchased, 1954