Christopher Richard Wayne Nevinson was born in 1889 in London, England. He had a rough childhood, in England, which included being booed by his own neighbors as he walked down the street. Of course these acts weren't unprovked. His father, Henry Nevinson, was a radical journalist, and his mother, Margaret Nevinson, was an activist in a campaign for women's rights. Both of these causes were not looked upon favorably at the time, and that led to the jeers directed at Christopher.
At the age of 18, Christopher went to the St. John's Wood School of Art, however he later transferred to the Slade School. It was here that Henry Tonks, one of Nevinson's teachers, told Christopher that he just didn't have the talent to become an artist. Christopher Nevinson left the Slade School, and he went to work as a journalist and artist. During this time, Christopher became an influential figure in the French avant garde. In 1911, Christopher made his biggest find. He discovered Cubism which influenced his work for the rest of his life.
World War I came around, and the draft was in full swing. However, Nevinson was a Pacifist, and he refused to enlist in combat duries, so instead he agreed to join the Red Cross. Christopher Nevinson worked as a driver, stretcher-bearer, and hospital orderly when he was sent to France in 1914. He then joined the Royal Army Medical Corps. He began nursing badly wounded soldiers at the Third General Hospital back in London, England. It was there that he was infected with rheumatic fever, and he was able to leave the army in January, 1916. While he was recuperating he painted a number of paintings of his experiences while he was on duty in France. He put on an exhibition of his work in September, 1916. This exhibition caught the eye of a man named Charles Masterman who was head of the government's War Propganda Bureau (WPB). The WPB sent Nevinson to the Western Front where he produced sixty paintings.
Nevinson's most famous piece is La Mitrailleuse. During his time in the Western Front he also produced Paths of Glory, Star Shell, Bursting Shell, Explosion, French Troops Resting, and La Paitre. Eventually, Nevinson became upset with his work at the WPB, and some of his paintings were considered unacceptable, and unfortunately they were not allowed on exhibit.
The war ended, and Nevinson started focusing on painting townscapes and genre pictures. He published his autobiography, Paint and Predjudice in 1937. Two years later he was elected ARA. Shortly after, Nevinson became a war artist in World War II, however he didn't get a chance to start when he sufferd a severe stroke in 1942. Christopher Richard Wayne Nevinson died four years later at the age of 57 in 1946. He will always be thought of as one of the greatest artists of his time.