The son of a famous war correspondent father and a suffragette mother, Nevinson was born in London. He attended the Slade School of Art in London and later shared a studio with Modigliani in Paris, where he also studied at the Académie Julian. Nevinson was one of the leading British avant garde artists of the wartime period to depict the devastation of the First World War. After being invalided out of the army, Nevinson was appointed as an official War Artist in 1917. He was sent by the Bureau of Information to make drawings of aircraft manufacture and aeroplanes in flight for the print series ‘The Great War: Britain’s Efforts and Ideals’. Nevinson’s post-war work concentrated on urban scenes and depictions of the metropolis, particularly New York.