
Paul Nash was a pioneer of modernism in Britain. An official war artist during both World Wars, he experimented with a range of avant-garde styles during his career, culminating in 1933 when he helped found Unit One, an influential group of British surrealists that included Ben Nicholson, Henry Moore, and Barbara Hepworth. Considered to be among his finest engravings, Nash produced the stark monochromatic illustrations for Genesis during a period when he moved toward semi-abstraction. Nash's illustrations also show the influence of Cubism and Vorticism, particularly in their fragmented space and sense of dynamic movement.