Eric Ravilious (1903-1942) was a British painter, illustrator, wood-engraver, designer and lithographer. One of the most popular artists of the 1930s, Ravilious specialised in watercolours of the English countryside, before his death whilst serving as a war artist in World War II.
Eric Ravilious (1903-1942) was a British painter, illustrator, wood-engraver, designer and lithographer. One of the most popular artists of the 1930s, Ravilious specialised in watercolours of the English countryside, before his death whilst serving as a war artist in World War II.
Ravilious grew up in Sussex and after attending Eastbourne School of Art, went on to study in the Design School at the Royal College of Art. In Ravilious’ landscapes of Sussex and other parts of England, he depicts wide, open spaces devoid of people, but as a modernist artist, he alludes to human impact through the roads, trains and fences of his compositions. Ravilious also captured everyday scenes from English provincial life. He was was a skilled wood engraver, his illustrations in this medium make striking use of strong tonal contrast which can be detected throughout his body of work. Following the war, Ravilious’ art was almost forgotten, with his mural at Waterloo bombed and many of his war paintings either censored or sunk at sea. But almost 50 years later, his daughter found a hoard of unknown artworks and made efforts to resurrect Ravilious’ career.
Ravilious' parents ran an antique shop in Eastbourne.
Ravilious' paintings of the chalk hill figures are symbols of Englishness and defiance.
We love how each landscape typifies the British picturesque and vernacular art with a quaint, neoteric sensibility and clarity.
In 2022 a film was released about Eric Ravilious - 'Drawn To War.'
At the Royal College of Art, Ravilious studied under Paul Nash.
ARTIST SPOTLIGHT
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Eric Ravilious was a talented watercolourist, wood engraver, lithographer and designer. He adored the Sussex Downs and tirelessly recorded its changing rural scene. He visited Sussex and the Downs regularly staying at his friend Peggy Angus cottage Furlongs. Eric Ravilious painted his chalk figures series in the period before and after the outbreak of the Second World War and they can be interpreted as symbols of Englishness and defiance, as well an evocation of the man-made in a natural setting. As with so many of Eric Ravilious’s landscapes they are devoid of humans but filled with the impact of humans ...
