Gifted by the Artist to Barbara Nash, 1912
Sale, Phillips London, 15th June 1981, lot 65
James Hyman Fine Art, London, where acquired by the present owner, February 2004

London, Carfax Gallery, Paul Nash, November 1912, cat. no.8;
Oxford, Oxford Arts Club, Retrospective Exhibition of Work by Paul Nash, October 1931, cat. no.4;
London, Tate, Paul Nash, Paintings and Watercolours, 12th November - 28th December 1975, cat. no.3, illustrated, where lent by Barbara Nash.

C.C. Abbott and Anthony Bertram (ed.), Poet and Painter, Being the Correspondence between Gordon Bottomley and Paul Nash 1910-1946, Oxford University Press, Oxford, p.32 (as The Quiet Lane);
Andrew Causey, Paul Nash, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1980, cat. no.10, illustrated pl.23.

The following condition report has be prepared by Jane McAusland FIIC, Conservator and Restorer of Art on Paper, Nether Hall Barn, Old Newton, Nr. Stowmarket, Suffolk, IP14 4PP. The sketchbook page used by Nash appears to have been laid down onto a sheet of Japan paper. This extends to beyond the edge of the sheet and is stuck onto a board. The paper has been quite extensively damaged, especially in the sky and also at the foot where there is a 7 cm angled tear with associated creases at the top. There are other small edge damages, especially on the right. All these damages have been restored and are supported by the Japan paper, which make it impossible to look at the verso or through transmitted light. Medium The blue wash is bright. Areas of damage have been retouched in places. Note: This work was viewed outside studio conditions. Please telephone the department on +44 (0) 207 293 6424 if you have any questions regarding the present lot.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

'O dreaming trees, sunk in a swoon of sleep
What have ye seen in these mysterious places?’

(Nash quoted in Andrew Causey, Paul Nash, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1980, p. 28).

Nash’s landscapes of 1910-1912 demonstrate his sensitive and unique approach to the natural world: his interest was not in the topography of the scene, but rather in capturing the `spirit of a place’ (Nash quoted in Causey, op.cit. p.23).  Nash had a particular connection with the powerful and permanent presence of trees which dominate his landscapes from this period. He had been drawn to trees ever since he visited Kensington Gardens as a child and gives them human qualities in his poetry, describi🍌ng them as witnesses of the natural world. Humans rarely feature in Nash’s drawings of 1910-13, and although figures are absent in this work, the long shadows of the trees lingering over the empty path as it winds out of sight give a sensation of an invisible presence and quiet mystery to the work.

This early landscape is one of the first examples in which Nash employs light and shade to create a sense of mood in his work, a technique which he was to explore further in a series of drawings executed at Iver Heath, of which Bird Garden (1911) and The Field before the Wood (1912) are notable examples. Nash is economic in his use of detail in this work, delineating the shapes of the trees through light touches of pencil, highlighted in chalk. He employs a controlled colour scheme, applying a subtle blue wash to suggest the rays of the sun hitting the trees as dusk descends. Nash was concerned during this period with the implication of space and indicates distance in the present work by employing a low vantage point to depict the tree-lined lane leading to an unseen destination. Nash was to use this theme of a path to create distance again in Under the Hill (1912) and The Wood on the Hill (1912).

Causey has suggested that the location for A Lane in Blue was Yately in Hampshire and it might have been during a visit to his Aunt that he executed this work.&n♋bsp; It was in 1910 that Nash’s mother died and in the same year he enrolled at the Slade.  Causey has suggested that the signature and date could have been added in 1931 for the Retrospective exhibition held at the Oxford Arts Club.