LONDON.- A major Tate retrospective of Paul Nash opens on Wednesday October 25th. The 26th Winter Art & Antiques Fair at Olympia previews on October 31st with several Nash selling exhibitions amongst the 100 dealers.

Paul and John Nash are today regarded as two of the most significant British landscape painters of the middle part of the twentieth century. As official World War One artists, they swept to fame as painters of some of the most enduring images of the War. Both went on to develop their own distinctive language as great interpreters of the British landscape.

London based picture dealer, George Babbington brings one of the original watercolour studies for the oil painting 'Whiteleaf Cross’, painted in 1931, which is in the Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester. Whiteleaf Cross is a chalk hill carving in the shape of a cross in the Chiltern Hills, Buckinghamshire. Babbington said of the work, “It was a perfect subject for Nash, who used the landscape repeatedly as a metaphor for the War and its devastating effect on humanity”. A larger and more finished watercolour of the same subject sold at Christie’s in June 2007 to the Buckinghamshire County Museum.

Fellow picture dealer Harry Moore Gwyn is bringing over a dozen works by brothers John and Paul Nash. There will be several watercolours by both brothers such as ‘The Oast House at Owley’ 1923 by Paul Nash which is on sale for £9,500. Another watercolour, ‘Trees at Wormingford’ by John Nash will be on offer for £7,500. Pen and ink drawings by Paul Nash, executed for Ernest Benn in the mid 1920s, include ‘Lovers in the Wood’ and ‘Scene from King Lear, Act V, scene I’, 1926.

Fair Director, Mary Claire Boyd, said of the event. ‘Close to a quarter of our exhibitors sell art, ranging from traditional Victorian to contemporary Chinese paintings. We are delighted that these works by the Nash brothers will be up sale at this time and we expect them to be of great interest to our visitors’.

The Winter Art & Antiques Fair Olympia is the only show of its kind to be held during winter, from 31st October until 6th November, enabling visitors with a thirst for art and antiques to shop out of the peak summer season. It is expected to attract more than 20,000 visitors.

Pieces on sale will range from fossils from the Jurassic time period, jewellery from 50BC to furniture styles through to the late 20th century - with a particular focus on furniture, art, ceramics, sculpture, silverware, fossils, jewellery, textiles and glassware.

It is the one Fair in the UK to work in association with the top two trade associations, BADA (The British Antiques Dealers’ Association) and LAPADA (The Association of Art & Antiques Dealers). There is also a strict vetting process in place to ensure all pieces are of the highest quality. Every single piece is checked by a team of experts before the Fair opens.