Editing Eric Ravilious

{{short description|English painter}}
{{Use British English|date=June 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2024}}
{{Infobox artist
| name             = Eric Ravilious
| image            = File:Eric_Ravilious.jpg
| birth_date       = {{birth date|1903|6|22|df=y}}
| birth_place      = [[Acton, London|Acton]], London, England
| death_date       = {{death date and age|1942|9|2|1903|6|22|df=y}}
| death_place      = Iceland
| spouse           = [[Tirzah Garwood]]
| field            = Watercolour painting, design, woodcuts
| training         = {{unbulleted list |Eastbourne Grammar School|Eastbourne School of Art|[[Royal College of Art]]}}
| birth_name       = Eric William Ravilious
}}
[[File:Two Women in a Garden (Ravilious).jpg|thumb|Two Women in a Garden (Ravilious). [[Tirzah Garwood]] on right]] [[File:Tea at Furlongs 1939.jpg|thumb|''Tea at Furlongs'', watercolour 1939]]

'''Eric William Ravilious''' (22 July 1903 – 2 September 1942) was a British painter, designer, book illustrator and wood-engraver. He grew up in [[Sussex]], and is particularly known for his watercolours of the [[South Downs]], [[Castle Hedingham]] and other English landscapes, which examine English landscape and vernacular art with an off-kilter, modernist sensibility and clarity. He served as a [[war artist]], and was the first British war artist to die on active service in World War II when the aircraft he was in was lost off Iceland.<ref name="Grdn">{{cite news |last1=Armitstead |first1=Claire |title='He died in his 30s living the life he had dreamed of': artist Eric Ravilious |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/jun/24/he-died-in-his-30s-living-the-life-he-had-dreamed-of-artist-eric-ravilious |access-date=24 June 2022 |work=The Guardian |date=24 June 2022}}</ref><ref name="Spalding">{{cite book|author=Frances Spalding|author-link=Frances Spalding|publisher=Antique Collectors' Club|year=1990|title=20th Century Painters and Sculptors |isbn=1-85149-106-6}}</ref><ref name="Carrington Graphis Obit">{{cite journal|last1=Carrington|first1=Noel|author-link1=Noel Carrington|title=Eric Ravilious|journal=Graphis|date=1946|pages=430–9|url=http://magazines.iaddb.org/issue/GR/1946-10-01/edition/16/page/38|access-date=20 November 2017|archive-date=1 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201032457/http://magazines.iaddb.org/issue/GR/1946-10-01/edition/16/page/38|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Early life and education==
[[File:Ravilious1925.png|thumb|upright|''May'', woodcut of the [[Long Man of Wilmington]] by Eric Ravilious, 1925.]]
Eric William Ravilious was born on 22 July 1903 in [[Churchfield Road]], [[Acton, London|Acton]], London, the son of Emma (''née'' Ford) and Frank Ravilious.<ref name="Powers2012">{{cite book|last=Powers|first=Alan|title=Eric Ravilious: Imagined Realities|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h86sbcpAROEC&pg=PA143|date=15 July 2012|publisher=Philip Wilson Publishers|isbn=978-1-78130-001-5|page=143}}</ref><ref name="Russell2015">{{cite book|last=Russell|first=James|title=Ravilious: The Watercolours|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G-rIBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA1|year=2015|publisher=Philip Wilson Publishers|isbn=978-1-78130-032-9|page=1}}</ref> When he was young the family moved to [[Eastbourne]] in Sussex, where his parents ran an antiques shop.<ref name=con14 >Constable, 1982, p. 14.</ref> 

Ravilious was educated at Eastbourne Municipal Secondary School for Boys, from September 1914 to December 1919.<ref>Andy Friend, Alan Powers, ''Ravilious & Co: The Pattern of Friendship'' (2017), [https://books.google.com/books?id=M1fGDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT469 p. 469]</ref> It was later renamed as Eastbourne Grammar School. In 1919 he won a scholarship to Eastbourne School of Art and in 1922 another to study at the Design School at the [[Royal College of Art]]. There, he became a close friend of [[Edward Bawden]]<ref name=con14/> (his 1930 painting of Bawden at work is in the collection of the college)<ref name="YP">{{cite web|url=https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/edward-bawden-working-in-his-studio-147026|title=Edward Bawden Working in His Studio|publisher=[[Art UK]]|access-date=16 July 2014}}</ref> and, from 1924, studied under [[Paul Nash (artist)|Paul Nash]].<ref name="con16"/> Nash, an enthusiast for [[wood-engraving]], encouraged him in the technique, and was impressed enough by his work to propose him for membership of the [[Society of Wood Engravers]] in 1925, and helped him to get commissions.<ref name=con17 >Constable, 1982, p. 17.</ref>

In 1925 Ravilious received a travelling scholarship to Italy and visited [[Florence]], [[Siena]], and the hill towns of [[Tuscany]].<ref name=con16>Constable, 1982, p. 16.</ref>

== Career and marriage ==
Following this he began teaching part-time at the Eastbourne School of Art, and from 1930 taught (also part-time) at the Royal College of Art.<ref name="con11">Constable, 1982, p. 11.</ref> In the same year he married [[Tirzah Garwood|Eileen Lucy "Tirzah" Garwood]], also an artist and engraver, whom he met whilst her tutor at Eastbourne College of Art.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/apr/30/eric-ravilious-painting-landscape-watercolour|title=Eric Ravilious: ups and Downs|last=Laity|first=Paul|date=29 April 2011|work=The Guardian|access-date=27 May 2019|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}}</ref><ref name="ODArt">{{cite book|editor=Ian Chilvers |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|year=1988|title=The Oxford Dictionary of Art|isbn=0-19-860476-9}}</ref> They had three children: John Ravilious (1935&ndash;2014); the photographer [[James Ravilious]] (1939&ndash;1999); and Anne Ullmann, née Ravilious (b. 1941), editor of books on her parents and their work.<ref name=":2">{{Cite ODNB |title=Garwood [married names Ravilious, Swanzy], Eileen Lucy [known as Tirzah] (1908–1951), wood engraver and artist |url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/display/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-59241 |access-date=14 February 2024 |date=2016 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/59241 |language=en |last1=Russell |first1=James }}</ref>

In 1928 Ravilious, Bawden and [[Charles Mahoney (artist)|Charles Mahoney]] painted a series of murals at [[Morley College]] in south London on which they worked for a whole year.<ref name=bawden8/> Their work was described by J. M. Richards as "sharp in detail, clean in colour, with an odd humour in their marionette-like figures" and "a striking departure from the conventions of mural painting at that time", but was destroyed by bombing in 1941.<ref name=bawden8>{{cite book|first=J.M.|last=Richards|title=Edward Bawden|series=The Penguin Modern Painters|publisher=Penguin Books|location=Harmondsworth|year=1946|page=8}}</ref><ref name="Grdn"/>

Between 1930 and 1932 Ravilious and Garwood lived in [[Hammersmith]], west London, where there is a [[blue plaque]] on the wall of their house at the corner of Upper Mall and Weltje Road. The building looks out onto [[The Boat Race]] course, and the couple held bathing and boat-race parties.<ref name=":0" /> When Ravilious and Bawden graduated from the RCA they began exploring the Essex countryside in search of rural subjects to paint. Bawden rented Brick House in [[Great Bardfield]] as a base and when he married Charlotte Epton, a fellow RCA art student, his father bought it for him as a wedding present. Ravilious and Garwood lodged in Brick House with the Bawdens until 1934 when they purchased Bank House at [[Castle Hedingham]],<ref name="CLife"/> which is now also marked by a blue plaque. There were eventually several other [[Great Bardfield Artists]].

In 1933 Ravilious and Garwood painted murals at the [[Midland Hotel, Morecambe|Midland Hotel]] in [[Morecambe]].<ref name=con22 >Constable, 1982, p. 22.</ref> In November 1933, Ravilious held his first solo exhibition at the Zwemmer Gallery in London, titled "''An Exhibition of Water-Colour Drawings''".<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pkWCDQAAQBAJ&q=zwemmer+gallery+ravilious&pg=PT86|title=Eric Ravilious: Memoir of an Artist|last=Binyon|first=Helen|date=30 June 2016|publisher=The Lutterworth Press|isbn=9780718844899|language=en}}</ref> Twenty of the 37 works displayed were sold.<ref name="CLife"/> During 1939, Ravilious painted a series of watercolours of chalk [[hill figures]] in the English landscape. The [[Leicester Galleries]] sold three of these paintings to British public collections, the [[Tate]], the [[Victoria & Albert Museum]] and [[Aberdeen Art Gallery]].<ref name="APowers">{{cite web|url=https://artuk.org/discover/stories/the-real-and-romantic-the-life-and-work-of-eric-ravilious|title=The real and romantic: the life and work of Eric Ravilious|date=14 July 2022 |author=Alan Powers|website=Art UK|access-date=25 February 2023}}</ref>
==Printmaking and illustration==
[[File:Caravans (Eric Ravilious).jpg|thumb|left|''Caravans'', watercolour, 1936]]
Ravilious engraved more than 400 illustrations and drew over 40 lithographic designs for books and publications during his lifetime.<ref>Edward Bawden, ''Design''. Antique Collector's Club, Woodbridge, England. {{ISBN|1-85149-500-2}}.</ref> His first commission, in 1926, was to illustrate a novel for Jonathan Cape. He went on to produce work both for large companies such as the [[Monotype Imaging|Lanston Monotype Corporation]] and smaller, less commercial publishers, such as the [[Golden Cockerel Press]]<ref name=con17/> (for whom he illustrated an edition of ''[[Twelfth Night]]''),<ref name=con21/> the [[Curwen Press]] and the [[Cresset Press]].<ref name=con17/> His woodcut of two Victorian gentlemen playing cricket has appeared on the front cover of every edition of ''[[Wisden Cricketers' Almanack]]'' since 1938.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.cricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/243912.html |title = 20 things you never knew about Wisden |work=Cricinfo |date = 10 April 2006 |access-date=19 August 2009}}</ref> His style of wood-engraving was greatly influenced by that of [[Thomas Bewick]], whom both he and Bawden admired.<ref name=con17/> Ravilious in turn influenced other wood engravers, such as [[Gwenda Morgan]] who also depicted scenes in the [[South Downs]] and was commissioned by the Golden Cockerel Press.

In the mid-1930s Ravilious took up lithography, making a print of ''Newhaven Harbour'' for the "Contemporary Lithographs" scheme, and a set of full-page lithographs, mostly of shop interiors, for a book called ''High Street'', with text by J. M. Richards.<ref name=con29 >Constable, 1982, p. 29.</ref> Following a trip in a submarine in the war he produced a series of lithographs on ''Submarines'', a set of 12,<ref name="RMG NMM">{{cite web |title=The Whitstable mine (from the 'Submarines' series) |url=https://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/243338.html |website=Royal Museums Greenwich |publisher=National Maritime Museum |access-date=11 November 2020 |quote=Last drawing in book, twelve}}</ref> one of which was entitled ''Submarine Dream.''<ref name="RMG">{{cite web |title=The Submarine Series. Submarine Dream |url=https://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/112231.html |website=Royal Museums Greenwich |publisher=National Maritime Museum |access-date=11 November 2020}}</ref><ref>''[https://issuu.com/powershift/docs/ravilious_submarine_online Submarine Dream]'', Goldmark Press</ref>

==Design==
[[File:Eric Ravilious - Wedgwood alphabet cup CROP.jpg|thumb|upright|''Alphabet'' mug by Eric Ravilious, [[transfer printing]] on [[Wedgwood]] [[creamware]], 1937]]
In February 1936, Ravilious held his second exhibition at the Zwemmer Gallery and again it was a success, with 28 out of the 36 paintings shown being sold.<ref name="CLife"/> This exhibition also led to a commission from [[Wedgwood]] for ceramic designs.<ref name="Grdn"/> His work for them included a commemorative mug to mark the [[planned coronation of Edward VIII]]; the design was revised for the [[Coronation of George VI and Elizabeth]].<ref name="CLife">{{cite book|author=James Russell|publisher=The Mainstone Press (Norwich)|year=2011|title=Ravilious in Pictures: A Country Life|isbn=978-0955277764}}</ref>

Other popular Ravilious designs included the ''Alphabet'' mug of 1937,<ref name="Bedell">{{cite web |author=Geraldine Bedell |author-link=Geraldine Bedell |url=https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2003/dec/07/features.review87|title=Bring me the admiral's bicycle |date= 7 December 2003|access-date=1 January 2014|work=Observer}}</ref> and the china sets, ''Afternoon Tea'' (1938), ''Travel'' (1938), and ''Garden Implements'' (1939), plus the ''Boat Race Day'' cup in 1938.<ref name="ertate">{{cite web|author=Freda Constable|title=Artist biography Eric Ravilious|publisher=Tate|access-date=1 January 2014|url=http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/eric-ravilious-1817}}</ref> Production of Ravilious' designs continued into the 1950s, with the coronation mug design being posthumously reworked for the coronation of [[Elizabeth II]] in 1953.<ref>{{cite book|first=Stephen|last=Jenkins|title=Ceramics of the '50s and '60s|pages=8–9|publisher=Miller's|location=London|year=2001}}</ref>

He also undertook glass designs for Stuart Crystal in 1934, graphic advertisements for [[London Passenger Transport Board|London Transport]] and furniture work for Dunbar Hay in 1936.<ref name="ertate"/> Ravilious and Bawden were both active in the campaign by the [[Artists' International Association]] to support the Republican cause in the [[Spanish Civil War]]. Throughout 1938 and 1939, Ravilious spent time working in Wales, the south of France and at [[Aldeburgh]] to prepare works for his third one-man show, which was held at the Arthur Tooth & Sons Gallery in 1939.<ref name="CLife"/>

==Watercolour==
Apart from a brief experimentation with oils in 1930 – inspired by the works of [[Johan Zoffany]] – Ravilious painted almost entirely in watercolour.<ref name=con21>Constable, 1982, p. 21.</ref> He was especially inspired by the landscape of the [[South Downs]] around [[Beddingham]]. He frequently returned to Furlongs, the cottage of [[Peggy Angus]]. He said that his time there "altered my whole outlook and way of painting, I think because the colour of the landscape was so lovely and the design so beautifully obvious ... that I simply had to abandon my tinted drawings".<ref name="escc">{{cite journal |date=August 2007 |title=East Sussex Record Office: Report of the County Archivist, April 2006 to March 2007 |url=http://www.eastsussex.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/26E61163-720B-41F4-AB51-AB8DE4A6DA8C/0/ESROAnnualReport200607forweb.pdf |url-status=dead |journal=East Sussex Record Office: Report of the County Archivist |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110527131700/http://www.eastsussex.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/26E61163-720B-41F4-AB51-AB8DE4A6DA8C/0/ESROAnnualReport200607forweb.pdf |archive-date=27 May 2011 |access-date=19 January 2009 }}</ref> Some of his works, such as ''Tea at Furlongs'', were painted there.

== Murals ==
Ravilious was commissioned to paint [[mural]]s on the walls of the tea room on [[Victoria Pier, Colwyn Bay|Victoria Pier]] at [[Colwyn Bay]] in 1934.<ref name="Dearden">{{cite web|last1=Dearden|first1=Chris|title=Bid to save pier murals amid demolition|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-north-west-wales-43365865|website=BBC News|access-date=19 March 2018|date=12 March 2018}}</ref> After the pier's partial collapse, these were thought unrecoverable, but, as of March 2018, one had been recovered in pieces and it was hoped that a second could also be saved, along with parts of another by [[Mary Adshead]], from the pier's auditorium.<ref name="Dearden" />

[[Conwy County Borough Council|Conwy Council]]'s conservation officer, Huw Davies, said:<ref name="Dearden" />

{{Blockquote|Only two murals of his survive, and this was the last one in position. It's historically very significant. His work decorated the walls of the tea room and featured an underwater ruin scene with pink and purple seaweed... The murals haven't actually been on show for some time. One wall of the Eric Ravilious work has been lost because of water getting into the building, and the whole thing has been covered over with several coats of paint and plaster. There's a considerable job to do to restore them. For now, they're being stored safely in a dry place... The next stage will be to find a home for them. If the trust succeed in rebuilding the pier, we hope they could return one day.}}

==War artist==
[[File:HMS Glorious in the Arctic (Art IWM ART LD 283).jpg|thumb|''HMS Glorious in the Arctic'', 1940 (Art IWM ART LD 283)]]
[[File:Morning on the Tarmac (Art. IWM ART LD 1712).jpg|thumb|''Morning on the Tarmac'', 1941 (Art. IWM ART LD 1712)]]
Prior to the outbreak of [[WWII]] Ravilious aligned himself with anti-fascist causes, including lending his work to the 1937 exhibition ''Artists Against Fascism''.<ref name=":1" /> He considered joining the military as a rifleman but was deterred by friends; he joined a [[Royal Observer Corps Monitoring Post|Royal Observer Corps post]] in [[Castle Hedingham|Hedingham]] at the outbreak of war.<ref name=":1" /> He was then accepted as a full-time salaried artist by the [[War Artists' Advisory Committee]] in December 1939.<ref name="erIWM">{{cite web |author=Imperial War Museum|url=http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/1050000806
|title=War artists archive:Eric Ravilious |access-date=1 January 2014|work=[[Imperial War Museum]]}}</ref>{{efn|''Arts and Industry'' magazine, whose associate editor was Ravilious' colleague [[Robert Harling (typographer)|Robert Harling]], commented in 1940: "We cannot help thinking that this may seem an odder war to posterity when they see it reproduced in the drawings of Edward Bawden and Eric Ravilious.<ref name="Art And Industry 1940">{{cite news|title=Notes & News|url=http://magazines.iaddb.org/issue/CAI/1940-05-01/edition/null/page/38?query=|access-date=14 August 2017|work=Art And Industry|date=1940}}{{Dead link|date=March 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>}}  He was given the rank of Honorary Captain in the [[Royal Marines]]<ref>[https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/34807/page/1394 The London Gazette Publication date: 8 March 1940 Issue: 34807 Page: 1394]</ref> and assigned to the Admiralty.

In February 1940, he reported to the Royal Naval barracks at [[Chatham Dockyard]]. While based there he painted ships at the dockside, barrage balloons at [[Sheerness]] and other coastal defences. ''Dangerous Work at Low Tide, 1940'' depicts bomb disposal experts approaching a German magnetic mine on [[Whitstable]] Sands. Two members of the team Ravilious painted were later awarded the [[Distinguished Service Cross (United Kingdom)|Distinguished Service Cross]].<ref name="erMoD">{{cite web |author=Ministry of Defence|url=https://www.gov.uk/ministry-of-defence-art-collection|title=Ministry of Defence Art Collection |access-date=1 January 2014|work=The Ministry of Defence}}</ref>

On 24 May 1940 Ravilious sailed to Norway aboard [[HMS Highlander (H44)|HMS ''Highlander'']] which was escorting [[HMS Glorious|HMS ''Glorious'']] and the force being sent to recapture [[Narvik]]. ''Highlander'' returned to Scapa Flow before departing for Norway a second time on 31 May 1940. From the deck of ''Highlander'', Ravilious painted scenes of both [[HMS Ark Royal (91)|HMS ''Ark Royal'']] and HMS ''Glorious'' in action. ''HMS Glorious in the Arctic'' depicts [[Hawker Hurricanes]] and [[Gloster Gladiators]] landing on the deck of ''Glorious'' as part of the evacuation of forces from Norway on 7/8 June. The following evening ''Glorious'' was sunk, with great loss of life.<ref name="Russell"/>

On returning from Norway, Ravilious was posted to [[Portsmouth]] from where he painted submarine interiors at [[Gosport]] and coastal defences at [[Newhaven, East Sussex|Newhaven]].<ref name=Subs>{{cite web |author=Elizabeth Dooley|url=http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/art/artist/ericravilious/wu0312 |title=''Submarine''|date=30 November 2012 |access-date=8 October 2016|work=University of Warwick Art Collection}}</ref> After Ravilious's third child was born in April 1941, the family moved out of Bank House to Ironbridge Farm near [[Shalford, Essex]]. The rent on this property was paid partly in cash and partly in paintings, which are among the few private works Ravilious completed during the war.<ref name="CLife"/> In October 1941 Ravilious transferred to Scotland, having spent six months based at Dover. In Scotland, Ravilious first stayed with [[John Nash (artist)|John Nash]] and his wife at their cottage on the [[Firth of Forth]] and painted convoy subjects from the signal station on the [[Isle of May]]. At the Royal Naval Air Station in Dundee, Ravilious drew, and sometimes flew in, the [[Supermarine Walrus]] seaplanes based there.<ref name="Russell"/>

In early 1942, Ravilious was posted to York but shortly afterwards was allowed to return home to Shalford when his wife was diagnosed with [[breast cancer]].<ref name=":2" /> There he worked on his York paintings and requested a posting to a nearby RAF base while Garwood recovered from a [[mastectomy]]. He spent a short time at [[RAF Debden]] before moving to [[RAF Sawbridgeworth]] in [[Hertfordshire]]. At Sawbridgeworth he began flying regularly in the [[de Havilland Tiger Moth]]s based at the flying school there and would sketch other planes in flight from the rear cockpit of the plane.<ref name="Russell">{{cite book|author=James Russell|publisher=The Mainstone Press|year=2010|title=Ravilious In Pictures, The War Paintings|isbn=978-0955277740}}</ref>

==Death==
On 28 August 1942 Ravilious flew to [[Reykjavík]] in Iceland and then travelled on to [[RAF Kaldadarnes]]. The day he arrived there, 1 September, a [[Lockheed Hudson]] aircraft had failed to return from a patrol. The next morning three aircraft were despatched at dawn to search for the missing plane and Ravilious opted to join one of the crews. The aircraft he was on also failed to return and after four days of further searching, the RAF declared Ravilious and the four-man crew lost in action. His body was never recovered and he is commemorated on the [[Chatham Naval Memorial]].<ref name="Russell"/><ref>[http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2471671 Casualty Details: Ravilious, Eric William], [[Commonwealth War Graves Commission]].</ref> The log book belonging to the pilot of the fatal flight, in the possession of the pilot's daughter, with a hand-written note "failed to return", and an RAF official stamp "death presumed", was shown on the [[BBC Television]] programme ''[[Antiques Roadshow]]'' in March 2020.<ref name= "AR">{{Cite episode |title=Battle Abbey 1 |series=Antiques Roadshow |series-link=Antiques Roadshow |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000g09r/antiques-roadshow-series-42-battle-abbey-1 |access-date=6 March 2020 |network=BBC Television |date=1 March 2020 |series-no= 42|number=1 }}</ref>

In 1946, Ravilious's widow, [[Tirzah Garwood|Tirzah]], married Anglo-Irish radio producer [[Henry Swanzy]], having been introduced by Peggy Angus.<ref name=":2" />

==Collections and exhibitions==
Ravilious only held three solo exhibitions during his life from which the majority of works were bought by private collectors. Other than the large number of war-time pictures held by the [[Imperial War Museum]], significant numbers of works by Ravilious only began to be acquired by public museums and galleries in the 1970s when the collection held by Edward Bawden started to come on the art market.<ref name="APowers"/> The largest collection is held at the [[Towner Gallery]] in Eastbourne, while the [[Fry Art Gallery]] in Saffron Walden also has a major collection.<ref name="APowers"/> 

Works by Ravilious are also held by the [[Bristol Museum and Art Gallery]], The Faringdon Collection at Buscot Park, The Ingram Collection of Modern British and Contemporary Art, [[The Priseman Seabrook Collection]], the [[Wiltshire Museum]] and the Victoria and Albert Museum.  In 2019 the British Museum displayed one Ravilious painting, an uncharacteristic painting of a house, unlike his usual style.

A touring exhibition organised by the [[The Minories, Colchester#The Victor Batte-Lay Trust|Victor Batte-Lay Trust]] named "Eric Ravilious 1903 – 1942" was held at [[The Minories, Colchester]] in 1972.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.abebooks.co.uk/Eric-Ravilious-1903-1942-Minories-Colchester/7960798281/bd|title=Book Details}}</ref> The Minories held an exhibition on graphic art and book illustration in 2009, named "Graphic art and the art of illustration" which featured Ravilious.<ref>Graphic art and the art of illustration: Paul Nash, John Nash, Eric Ravilious, Edward Bawden and their circle. The Minories, Colchester. 2009</ref>

In April to August 2015 the [[Dulwich Picture Gallery]] in London held what it called "the first major exhibition to survey" his watercolours, with more than 80 on display.<ref>[http://www.dulwichpicturegallery.org.uk/whats-on/exhibitions/2015/april/ravilious/ "Ravilious", Dulwich]</ref><ref name=Dorment>{{cite web |author=Richard Dorment|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/art-reviews/11499617/Ravilious-Dulwich-Picture-Gallery-review-a-joy-from-start-to-finish.html |title= Ravilious, Dulwich Picture Gallery, review, ''A joy from start to finish''|date=30 March 2015|access-date=31 August 2015|work=The Telegraph}}</ref>

In 2017, The Towner Gallery marked the 75th anniversary of Ravilious' death with ''Ravilious & Co: The Pattern of Friendship'',<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.townereastbourne.org.uk/exhibition/ravilious-and-co-the-pattern-of-friendship/|title=Ravilious & Co: The Pattern of Friendship {{!}} Towner Art Gallery|work=Towner Art Gallery|access-date=15 September 2017|language=en-GB|archive-date=22 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170822135339/http://www.townereastbourne.org.uk/exhibition/ravilious-and-co-the-pattern-of-friendship/|url-status=dead}}</ref> an exhibition that explored the relationships and working collaborations between Ravilious and a group of his friends and affiliates, including [[Paul Nash (artist)|Paul Nash]], [[John Nash (architect)|John Nash]], [[Enid Marx]], [[Barnett Freedman]], [[Tirzah Garwood]], [[Edward Bawden]], [[Thomas Hennell]], [[Douglas Bliss|Douglas Percy Bliss]], [[Peggy Angus]], Diana Low and [[Helen Binyon]].

In 2021, ''Mackerel Sky'', a painting by Ravilious that had been 'missing' for 82 years, was found and the new owner has lent it to the [[Hastings Contemporary]] art gallery for its Seaside Modern Exhibition.<ref>{{cite news |title=Eric William Ravilious: 'Missing' painting to go on show |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-57228969 |access-date=27 May 2021 |work=BBC News |date=25 May 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=O'Brien |first1=Rachel |title='Missing' Eric Ravilious painting loaned to Hastings gallery |url=https://www.hastingsobserver.co.uk/news/people/missing-eric-ravilious-painting-loaned-to-hastings-gallery-3249102 |access-date=27 May 2021 |work=www.hastingsobserver.co.uk |publisher=Hastings Observer |date=25 May 2021 |language=en}}</ref>

From September 2021 to January 2022, the [[Wiltshire Museum]] in [[Devizes]] held an exhibition titled ''Eric Ravilious: Downland Man'' which featured loans from a number of National Museums including the V&A, the [[British Museum]] and the [[Imperial War Museum]] as well as paintings held in private collections.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.wiltshiremuseum.org.uk/?exhibition=eric-ravilious-downland-man/|title= Eric Ravilious : Downland Man {{!}} Wiltshire Museum|work=Wiltshire Museum|access-date=26 July 2021|language=en-GB}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Russell|first=James|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1281898495|title=Eric Ravilious : Downland man|date=2021|others=Eric William Ravilious, David Dawson, Wiltshire Museum|isbn=978-0-947723-17-0|location=Devizes|oclc=1281898495}}</ref>

To mark its reopening as The Arc in February 2022 the former [[Winchester]] Discovery Centre staged ''Extraordinary Everyday: The Art & Design of Eric Ravilious''. The exhibition was curated for the Hampshire Cultural Trust and featured wood engravings, watercolours, books, ceramics and lithographs.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Winchester hub to be renamed after major £715k refurbishment|url=https://www.hampshirechronicle.co.uk/news/19836998.winchester-discovery-centre-renamed-arc/|access-date=2 February 2022|website=Hampshire Chronicle|date=10 January 2022 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Extraordinary Everyday: The Art & Design of Eric Ravilious {{!}} The Arc Winchester|url=https://www.arcwinchester.org.uk/event/extraordinary-everyday-eric-ravilious|access-date=2 February 2022|website=www.arcwinchester.org.uk|language=en}}</ref>

In 2022 he was the subject of the film ''[[Eric Ravilious: Drawn to War]]'' written and directed by [[Margy Kinmonth]].<ref name="Grdn"/><ref name="APowers"/>

==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{notelist}}

==Sources==
*{{cite book|first=Freda |last=Constable|title=The England of Eric Ravilious|year=1982|publisher=Scolar Press|location=London}}

==Further reading==
* James Russell, ''Ravilious: Wood Engravings'' (edited by Tim Mainstone), Mainstone Press, Norwich (2019); {{ISBN|978-0957666559}}
* Andy Friend, ''Ravilious & Co: The Pattern of Friendship'' (2017). {{ISBN|978-0500239551}}
* Jeremy Greenwood, ''Ravilious Engravings'' (2008. Wood Lea Press) [catalogue raisonnee]
* [[Alan Powers]], James Russell, ''Eric Ravilious: the Story of High Street'' (2008)
* [[Alan Powers]], Oliver Green. ''Away We Go! Advertising London's Transport: Eric Ravilious & [[Edward Bawden]]'' (2006)
* [[Alan Powers]], ''Eric Ravilious: Imagined Realities'' (2004)
* Richard Morphet. ''Eric Ravilious in Context'' (2002)
* ''Submarine dream: Lithographs and letters'' (1996)
* [[Robert Harling (typographer)|Robert Harling]]. ''Ravilious and Wedgwood: The Complete Wedgwood Designs of Eric Ravilious'' (1995), {{ISBN|978-0903685382}}
* [[Helen Binyon]]. ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20081010171907/http://www.lutterworth.com/lp/titles/ericrav.htm Eric Ravilious. Memoir of an Artist]''; [[The Lutterworth Press]] 2007, Cambridge; {{ISBN|978-0-7188-2920-9}}
* R. Dalrymple. ''Ravilious and Wedgwood'' (1986. London)
* Ella Ravilious, ''Eric Ravilious: Landscapes & Nature (Victoria and Albert Museum)'', 2023, Thames and Hudson Ltd {{ISBN|978-0-5004-8078-6}}
* ''Eric Ravilious, 1903–42: A Re-assessment of his Life and Work'' (exh. cat. by P. Andrew, Eastbourne Towner A.G. & Local History Museum) (1986)
* [[Helen Binyon]], ''Eric Ravilious: Memoir of an Artist'' (Frederic C. Beil, Publisher, New York, 1983)
* Freda Constable and Sue Simon, ''The England of Eric Ravilious'' (1982)
* J. M. Richards, ''The Wood Engravings of Eric Ravilious'' (1972)
* Anne Ullmann (ed.) ''Ravilious at War: the complete work of Eric Ravilious, September 1939 – September 1942'', contributions from Barry and Saria Viney, Christopher Whittick and Simon Lawrence, foreword by [[Brian Sewell]]. Huddersfield, Fleece (2002) {{ISBN|0-948375-70-1}}
* James Russell, ''Ravilious in Pictures: Sussex and the Downs'' (edited by Tim Mainstone), Mainstone Press, Norwich (2009); {{ISBN|9780955277733}}
* James Russell, ''Ravilious in Pictures: The War Paintings'' (edited by Tim Mainstone), Mainstone Press, Norwich (2010); {{ISBN|978-0955277740}}
* James Russell, ''Ravilious in Pictures: A Country Life'' (edited by Tim Mainstone), Mainstone Press, Norwich (2010); {{ISBN|978-0955277764}}
* James Russell, ''Ravilious in Pictures: A Travelling Artist'' (edited by Tim Mainstone), Mainstone Press, Norwich (2012); {{ISBN|978-0955277788}}
* James Russell, ''Ravilious: Submarine'' (edited by Tim Mainstone), Mainstone Press, Norwich (2013); {{ISBN|978-0955277795}}
* James Russell, ''Eric Ravilious Downland Man'', with a preface by David Dawson, Wiltshire Museum (2021), {{ISBN|978-0-947723-17-0}}
* Richard Knott, ''The Sketchbook War.''  The History Press, 2013.

==External links==
{{Commons category|Eric Ravilious}}
* {{Art UK bio}} 
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20160305073150/http://fryartgallery.org/the-collection/search-viewer/632/word/ravilious/ravilious Photograph of Ravilious]
* [http://www.artrepublic.com/artists/14-eric-ravilious.html Ravilious images at Art Republic]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ravilious, Eric}}
[[Category:1903 births]]
[[Category:1942 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century English painters]]
[[Category:Alumni of the Royal College of Art]]
[[Category:Painters from London]]
[[Category:Royal Marines personnel killed in World War II]]
[[Category:English war artists]]
[[Category:English designers]]
[[Category:English illustrators]]
[[Category:English landscape painters]]
[[Category:English male painters]]
[[Category:English muralists]]
[[Category:English watercolourists]]
[[Category:English wood engravers]]
[[Category:People from Acton, London]]
[[Category:People from Eastbourne]]
[[Category:Royal Marines officers]]
[[Category:World War II artists]]
[[Category:20th-century British war artists]]
[[Category:South Downs artists]]
[[Category:People of the Royal Observer Corps]]
[[Category:Military personnel from the London Borough of Ealing]]
[[Category:20th-century English male artists]]
[[Category:Aerial disappearances of military personnel in action]]
[[Category:Missing in action of World War II]]
[[Category:20th-century English engravers]]