British Art: Ancient Landscapes

Published to accompany an exhibition at Salisbury Museum and Art Gallery,

this volume explores the most significant works of art engaged with prehistoric

moments across Britain from the 18th century to the 21st. While some of the

works in the earlier period may be familiar to readers – especially Turner and

Constable’s famous watercolours of Stonehenge – the varied responses to British

Antiquity since 1900 are much less well known and have never been grouped

together.

The author aims to show the significance of antiquity for 20th-century artists,

demonstrating how they responded to the observable features of prehistoric

Britain and exploited their potential for imaginative re-interpretation. The

classic phase of modernist interest in these sites and monuments was the

1930s, but a number of artists working after WWII developed this legacy or

were stimulated to explore that landscape in new ways. Indeed, it continues to

stimulate responses and the book concludes with an examination of works made

within the last few years.

An introductory essay looks at the changing artistic approach to British

prehistoric remains over the last 250 years, emphasizing the artistic significance

of this body of work and examining the very different contexts that brought

it into being. The cultural intersections between the prehistoric landscape, its

representation by fine artists and the emergence of its most famous sites as

familiar locations in public consciousness will also be examined. For example,

engraved topographical illustrations from the 18th and 19th centuries and Shell

advertising posters from the 20th century will be considered.

Artists represented include: JMW Turner, John Constable, Thomas Hearne,

William Blake, Samuel Prout, William Geller, Richard Tongue, Thomas Guest,

John William Inchbold, George Shepherd, William Andrews Nesfield, Copley

Fielding, Yoshijiro (Mokuchu) Urushibara, Alan Sorrell, Edward McKnight

Kauffer, Frank Dobson, Paul Nash, Eric Ravilious, John Piper, Henry Moore,

Barbara Hepworth, Ithell Colquhoun, Gertrude Hermes, Norman Stevens,

Norman Ackroyd, Bill Brandt, Derek Jarman, Richard Long, Joe Tilson, David

Inshaw and Jeremy Deller.