Troops Resting

Christopher Richard Wynne Nevinson

1916 · Drypoint · Drawings and Prints

While the Italian Futurists glorified warfare, Nevinson, the only British Futurist, did not, especially after his time on the front. In his autobiography, he wrote that he made war images "without pageantry, without glory, and without the over-coloured heroic that had made up the tradition of all war paintings up to this time. . . . No man saw pageantry in the trenches." In Troops Resting, French soldiers wear the distinctive steel Adrian helmets of 1915, whose circular form is repeated in their kits, supplies, and food. The work makes visible the mental and physical exhaustion of the French army, which had suffered enormous losses by 1916.

Artist

Christopher Richard Wynne Nevinson

Date

1916

Medium

Drypoint

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Purchase, Leslie and Johanna Garfield Gift, Lila Acheson Wallace, Charles and Jessie Price, and David T Schiff Gifts, The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, Dolores Valvidia Hurlburt Bequest, Peco Foundation and Friends of Drawings and Prints Gifts, and funds from various donors, 2019