Paul Nash Letters to Mercia Oakley

The collection comprises 51 letters from Paul Nash to Mercia Oakley. The letters date from 1909 to early 1918, with many undated and the vast majority dating from 1909 to 1912. The letters from Oakley to Nash do not appear to have survived. In a primarily playful and intimate tone, the correspondence addresses a range of themes related mostly to Oakley and Nash’s personal lives. The letters verge on stream-of-consciousness, skipping rapidly between subjects. Many focus on the often confusing dynamics within their friendship and Nash’s philosophies toward life and art. Others speak to more quotidian things, such as social events, family news, and travel plans. The letters taper off extensively when Nash meets his eventual wife, Margaret Odeh, in 1913. The collection’s latest letters address both Nash and Oakley’s weddings and speak briefly of Nash’s work as an Official War Artist during the First World War. The collection provides some intimate insight into Nash’s feelings toward the development of his career. He expresses excitement over his studies and successes, as well as disappointment over failed commissions. In 1912, Nash writes extensively of his preparations for his first exhibition at the Carfax & Co., London. He addresses both the exhibition logistics and his expectations surrounding the event. Nash also writes of exhibitions he has seen, as well as books and poetry he has read. Many of the letters are illustrated with playful, often comical sketches, frequently picturing imagined encounters between Nash and Oakley or illustrating humorous anecdotes. Some letters are accompanied by their original envelope.