Paul Nash (1889-1946)

Paul Nash was appointed an Official War Artist in both World Wars. Having suffered from asthma for most of his life, Nash was announced unfit to fly by doctors. The claustrophobic nature of his illness focussed his fascination with planes, and he made regular visits to Cowley air site. Although the aircraft dump at Cowley contained many British planes, Nash only depicted German aircraft because he wished to show the fate of the 'hundreds and hundreds of flying creatures which invaded these shores'. In his essay 'The Personality of Planes' he describes his excitement for these machines, 'Everywhere one looked, alarming and beautiful monsters appeared ... all had individual beauty in terms of colour, form and line, but beyond, or was it behind that actual appearance these things possessed each a personality, difficult to define and yet undeniable'.