Christopher Nevinson served in the Friends Ambulance Unit of the Royal Army Medical Corps in the First World War and as an official war artist. His unsentimental representations of active conflict on the Western Front made a great impression on the British public when first exhibited in late 1916. According to one critic, he was the first artist to offer a “really profound and pictorial solution to the emotions aroused by the War.” Despite initial enthusiasm for mechanized conflict—fostered by his interest in Italian futurism—Nevinson was left severely traumatized by his experiences. It was during one of several periods of recuperation in St. Ives that he painted The Wave. On the one hand, this heavily stylized seascape can be seen as an homage to the great Japanese printmaker Hokusai; on the other hand, it is an oblique reflection on the engulfing destructive power of the war. Gallery label for installation of YCBA collection, 2016
