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Eric Ravilious

Eric Ravilious

Eric Ravilious [1903-1942]

Watercolourist, wood engraver, lithographer and mural decorator, Eric Ravilious was born in Acton but grew up in Eastbourne, Sussex, where he studied until receipt of a scholarship to the Royal College of Art. Student in the Design School of the College, Eric Ravilious was taught by Paul Nash and became friends, and sometime work companion, with Edward Bawden. In 1930 he married the artist Tirzah Garwood and befriended Sussex based artist Peggy Angus. It is from her home, Furlongs, near Firle on the Sussex Downs just outside of Brighton, that Ravilious began to paint his Downland subjects.

Eric Ravilious went on to design for Wedgwood who, in 1937, brought out the George VI commemorative Coronation Mug, and in the same year the (much collected) Alphabet Mug and Nursery Ware designs. In 1938 Country Life published the book High Street, by J. M. Richards, for which Eric Ravilious supplied a series of lithographs documenting the charms of certain Victorian high street shops - some no longer extant such as the Saddlers and Harness Maker's shop, or the Fireworks Shop.

Eric Ravilious was appointed Official War Artist in 1940. His watercolours during this period document the setting up of coastal defences at, amongst other places, Newhaven in Sussex; he also worked on a series of lithographs which record life as a submariner patrolling the Channel waters. In 1942, aged 39, Ravilious was posted to Iceland, and in September he participated in an air/sea rescue on board a Hudson plane in search of an aircraft that had disappeared on the previous day. The Hudson itself, however, was lost and Ravilious, along with four others, never returned from this mission.

Eric Ravilious is well known for his wood engravings and for his designs, but more recently it is his watercolours which have, perhaps, been of central interest. If artists are sometimes defined by their work on a particular area - Palmer by Shoreham, for instance - Eric Ravilious, as Peyton Skipwith suggests, is the 'artist par excellence of the South Downs'* Eric Ravilious's austerely beautiful watercolours are almost always devoid of people. But it is this very lack which Eric Ravilious explores: so often in his paintings there is a conspicuousness of absence. There is evidence, almost always, of the land having been traversed and used: the paths are well trodden, the fences zigzag their way across the terrain and pieces of machinery lie rusting in the fields. These man-made artefacts allow an association to the absent walker, farmer or machine operator, but the lack of actual presences can sometimes lend a certain sadness to the poignant beauty of the pictures.

Public Collections holding Ravilious include:

Aberdeen Art Gallery; Ashmolean Museum; British Museum; Imperial War Museum; London's Transport Museum, Ministry of Defence Art Collection; Towner Art Gallery; Victoria & Albert Museum; Wedgwood Museum Trust.

*See Design: Edward Bawden and Eric Ravilious: Skipwith, P and Webb, B; Antique Collector's Club, 2006

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Eric Ravilious - Amusement Arcade

This is a Limited Edition Giclee Print by the artist Eric Ravilious 140mm x 150mm ..

£49.00 Ex Tax: £40.83

Eric Ravilious - Baker and Confectioner

This is a Limited Edition Giclee Print by the artist Eric Ravilious220mm x 140mmEdition si..

£49.00 Ex Tax: £40.83

Eric Ravilious - Beachy Head

This is a Limited Edition Giclee Print by the artist Eric Ravilious420mm x 585mmEdition si..

£255.00 Ex Tax: £212.50

Eric Ravilious - Beachy Head Lighthouse – Belle Tout

This is a Limited Edition Giclee Print by the artist Eric RaviliousSize: Image: 425mm x 570m..

£225.00 Ex Tax: £187.50

Eric Ravilious - Caravans

This is a Limited Edition Giclee Print by the artist Eric Ravilious 365mm x 445mm ..

£225.00 Ex Tax: £187.50

Eric Ravilious - Cheesemonger

This is a Limited Edition Giclee Print by the artist Eric Ravilious 220mm x 140mm ..

£49.00 Ex Tax: £40.83

Eric Ravilious - Clerical Outfitter

This is a Limited Edition Giclee Print by the artist Eric Ravilious 135mm x 130mm ..

£49.00 Ex Tax: £40.83

Eric Ravilious - Coach Builder

This is a Limited Edition Giclee Print by the artist Eric Ravilious 220mm x 145mm ..

£49.00 Ex Tax: £40.83

Eric Ravilious - Commander of a Submarine Looking Through a Periscope (1941)

This is a Limited Edition Giclee Print by the artist Eric Ravilious 280mm x 320mm ..

£138.00 Ex Tax: £115.00

Eric Ravilious - Cucumber House

This is a Limited Edition Giclee Print by the artist Eric Ravilious 445mm x 533mm ..

£225.00 Ex Tax: £187.50

Eric Ravilious - Dangerous Work at Low Tide

This is a Limited Edition Giclee Print by the artist Eric Ravilious445mm x 540mmEdition si..

£225.00 Ex Tax: £187.50

Eric Ravilious - Different Aspects of Submarines: (1941)

This is a Limited Edition Giclee Print by the artist Eric Ravilious 280mm x 320mm ..

£138.00 Ex Tax: £115.00

Eric Ravilious - Diving Controls (1941)

This is a Limited Edition Giclee Print by the artist Eric Ravilious 349mm x 285mm ..

£138.00 Ex Tax: £115.00

Eric Ravilious - Family Butcher

This is a Limited Edition Giclee Print by the artist Eric Ravilious 190mm x 130mm ..

£49.00 Ex Tax: £40.83

Eric Ravilious - Fire Engineer

This is a Limited Edition Giclee Print by the artist Eric Ravilious 195mm x 140mm ..

£49.00 Ex Tax: £40.83

Eric Ravilious - Fireworks

This is a Limited Edition Giclee Print by the artist Eric Ravilious 140mm x 135mm ..

£49.00 Ex Tax: £40.83

Eric Ravilious - Flowers on Cottage Table

This is a Limited Edition Giclee Print by the artist Eric Ravilious 514mm x 565mm ..

£225.00 Ex Tax: £187.50

Eric Ravilious - Furlongs

This is a Limited Edition Giclee Print by the artist Eric Ravilious 432mm x 508mm ..

£225.00 Ex Tax: £187.50

Eric Ravilious - Halstead in the Snow

This is a Limited Edition Giclee Print by the artist Eric Ravilious460mm x 570mmEdition si..

£225.00 Ex Tax: £187.50

Eric Ravilious - Hams

This is a Limited Edition Giclee Print by the artist Eric Ravilious 220mm x 140mm ..

£49.00 Ex Tax: £40.83