David Boyd Haycock’s latest work of history has just been published by Old Street.

Stanley Spencer, Paul Nash, Mark Gertler, Richard Nevinson and Dora Carrington were five of the most exciting, influential and innovative British artists of the twentieth century. From diverse backgrounds, they met in the years before the Great War as students in London at the Slade School of Art, where they formed part of what their teacher, Henry Tonks, described as the school’s last ‘crisis of brilliance’.

Using letters, memoirs and biographies, A CRISIS OF BRILLIANCE recreates in intimate detail the formative years of these supremely gifted and committed painters. More than just a history of art, this book is the story of individual artists and their times – from Suffragettes to the Great War, from Futurists and Vorticists to the Omega Workshop and the Bloomsbury Group. It is an exploration of artistic ambition, struggle and success; and of lives linked by close friendships, fierce rivalries and love.

Reviews:

‘An extraordinary book. I read it avidly … The familiar cast is handled in a quite new and original way. They have been made fresh and vulnerable once more, and their work re-evaluated – made new to us.’ Ronald Blythe

‘A vintage decade of early twentieth century British art told in vivid and entertaining detail through the adventures of five highly gifted young painters. I greatly enjoyed it.’ Michael Holroyd

‘Haycock’s book is truly fascinating from every angle – almost a work of art in itself, A Crisis of Brilliance will interest both connoisseurs of painting and general readers alike.’ Waterstone’s Books Quarterly