Eric Ravilious: Artist and Designer

Product Information

To see’ is an artist’s starting point; to translate that vision into both three dimensional space and two dimensional representation, into both buildings and paintings, was Yates’s life-long concern, both as architect and as painter. I was first introduced to Eric Ravilious through reading Leslie Worth's book on Watercolour which has been one of my greatest influences on painting. This gorgeous book features beautiful woodcut images of countryside life, watercolours of rolling landscapes and many of Eric Ravilious' acute and profound war paintings.

The third chapter looks at the pre-war watercolours of interiors, villages, landscapes, boating scenes, etc, some of which include his most famous images. 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. It also provokes the inevitable emotions one feels when considering the output of one who died too young,as well as tantalising questions about the work which might have been. He was born in London to a Quaker mother from a family of optical instrument makers and Indian missionaries, and an engineer father who, as a keen amateur artist, encouraged his three children to draw and paint from an early age. Ravilious had initially proposed it to the Golden Cockerel Press, with whom he had previously worked, but they were unable to undertake such an ambitious project whereas Curwen's great interest in the area of lithography saw them subsidise the project.Alan Powers was Professor of Architecture and Cultural History at the University of Greenwich until 2012. Guest curator of the centenary exhibition, Eric Ravilious: Imagined Realities , at the Imperial War Museum (2003), his other books include Britain in the series Modern Architectures in History (2007) and Curwen: Art and Print (2008). The second chapter focuses on his woodcuts - he was one of the finest exponents of the form - and his book illustrations; there was always a strong illustrative bias in his work.

Ravilious is well known to a circle of collectors and admirers who feel no need to explain his work.

The book is enhanced with black and white illustrations by the artist Alice Pattullo that add to the story of these unique features of the English landscape. If you are looking for a specific print not listed here, please register your interest by completing this form - we'll ensure you're contacted first when these works become available. With the addition of text from Ravilious's friend, Jim Richards, what was produced was one of the most famous and iconic illustrated books of the twentieth century. He encountered Surrealism, and after moving back to England became a founding member of the British Surrealist Group. In this capacity he first encountered the work of Samuel Palmer and of Blake, and Blake, particularly, was to have a life-long influence on his work.

In 1951 Trevelyan married Mary Fedden (see artists) and the couple travelled widely, in Europe, Africa, India and the USA, before settling in London, Durham Wharf, on the banks of the River Thames, where he set up his etching studio. It is a go-to place for museum lovers whether they want to read up on an exhibition they are about to visit; read more about an exhibition being held far afield or revisit an old favourite show.His original watercolours of the chalk figures on the Downs are now considered amongst his finest work. His enthusiasm for autolithography and children's books - he also launched the famous Puffin Picture Book series - made him the ideal publisher for High Street, although Ravilious also benefited from the invaluable support of the Curwen Press. First edition, sole impression; 8vo; 24 colour lithograph plates and plain wood-engraved title vignette by Eric Ravilious; publisher's pictorial boards, with the 'transmatic' dust jacket and printed card flaps, a superb copy in the rare cellophane dust-jacket with printed paper flaps, cellophane shrunk as usual with front flap separated, nevertheless a stunning copy of a vulnerable book. The book tells the story of the English hill monuments and chalk figures on the Downlands of Southern England, illustrated with the paintings that Ravilious produced of the chalk paths, river paths and hilltops of Sussex and Wiltshire.

His first exhibition was at the Lefevre Gallery, in 1937, but he exhibited at the Royal College of Art; the Waddington Galleries, the New Grafton Gallery; the Bohun Gallery; and Pallant House Gallery, Chichester. Directly after school she noticed an advertisement in The Studio inviting applications for a training programme specialising in linocuts at The Grosvenor School of Art, London. Although a brilliant watercolourist, and designer, Eric Ravilious (1903-1942) was above all a wood engraver.Profusely illustrated throughout, mostly in colour, including reproductions of all 24 plates from the original edition of "High Street". If artists are sometimes defined by their work on a particular area – Palmer by Shoreham, for instance – Ravilious, as Peyton Skipwith suggests, is the ‘artist par excellence of the South Downs’* Ravilious’s austerely beautiful watercolours are almost always devoid of people. He doesn't make grandiose claims for his subject, wisely, he lets Ravilious's work speak for itself.