Edward Bawden

Edward Bawden (1903-1989), born in Essex, was an artist of many talents, including printmaking, illustration and graphic design. Edward Bawden's prints express the beauty of urban and rural English scenes through simple line work and a rich colour palette.

Edward Bawden (1903-1989), born in Essex, was an artist of many talents, including printmaking, illustration and graphic design. Edward Bawden's prints express the beauty of urban and rural English scenes through simple line work and a rich colour palette.

Bawden studied at Cambridge School of Art and then earned a coveted scholarship to the Royal College of Art, where he would accept commissions in his spare time. Bawden’s series of linocut prints of London monuments and markets secured his association with a graphic and simplistic style. During World War II, Bawden was based in Ethiopia, and he travelled around East Africa and made portraits of Italian and Ethiopian military leaders. Throughout his career as an illustrator Bawden produced packaging designs for companies such as Twinings and Fortnum and Mason, and work for Penguin Books and London Transport. Bawden's art demonstrates his love for plants and gardening. With his wife, artist Charlotte Epton, he transformed the derelict garden of Brick House in Great Bardfield, Essex, with what Tirzah Garwood called 'the best of everything interesting or unusual in the seed catalogue.' His recognisable designs and illustrious career earned him honorary doctorates from both the Royal College of Art and the University of Essex, and in 1946 he was awarded a CBE. A decade later, Bawden became a Royal Academician as a Draughtsman, the first ever person to have been accepted into this category. After his death, Bawden left around 3,000 of his works to The Higgins Art Gallery & Museum. 


Edward Bawden

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Larchwood £175

Edward Bawden

58 x 69 cm

Limited Edition of 950

March Noon £225

Edward Bawden

61 x 74 cm

Limited Edition of 950

Braintree Station £135 £54

Edward Bawden

33 x 61 cm

Autumn £148

Edward Bawden

41 x 51 cm

Tyger! Tyger! by Edward Bawden
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Tyger! Tyger! £135

Edward Bawden

73 x 31.5 cm

Edward Bawden Facts

Like his close friend Eric Ravilious, Bawden was a war artist during the Second World War. Based in Ethiopia, Bawden travelled around East Africa and made portraits of Italian and Ethiopian military leaders.

Bawden refrained from calling himself an artist, instead saying that he made 'dirty marks on paper’.

Whilst studying at the Royal College of Art, Bawden was called a ‘terrible painter’ by his tutors.

Bawden was the first 'draughtsman' to be elected at the Royal Academy when the new category was introduced in 1956.

We love how Bawden blurred the line between ‘high art’ and commercial design, creating his own style that is still distinctive to this day.

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