Publisher's Synopsis
The work of Eric Ravilious is more popular than ever, but how much do we know about the artist himself? Our view of him may be shaped mainlyby our familiarity with his evocative watercolours of the pre-war English landscape and by our knowledge that he died at a tragically young age in 1942. Before Ravilious earned the sad distinction of becoming the first artist to be killed on active service during the Second World War, his thirty-nine years were filled with a prolific career encompassing painting, illustration and design, and with enduring friendships and critical acclaim.
This beautifully produced new book from the Mainstone Press brings together more than thirty writings about Ravilious – some never before published – by those who knew him best and a wider circle of acquaintances and admirers. As the Ravilious expert Alan Powers notes in his introduction, there is a melancholy upside to dying young: contemporaries may record their impressions of you. The texts collected here range in date from a Times review of a watercolour exhibition in 1927 to a personal recollection of 2012 by the artist David Hepher, whose parents were friends with the Raviliouses in the 1930s, and who remembers Eric’s help with an unusual art project. Other memories are provided by friends from school and student days, including such renowned fellow Royal College of Art alumni as Edward Bawden, Peggy Angus and Enid Marx. The only text authored by Ravilious and published in his lifetime, ‘Preface by the Engraver’ in the Lanston Monotype Almanack of 1929, is reprinted in full for the first time, and proves he was a fine writer. Equally insightful are essays, journal articles and catalogue contributions – from both pre- and post-war eras – that shed light on Ravilious’s working methods and appraise all areas of his practice, from wood engraving to lithography. Accompanied by 170 illustrations and photographs, the texts carefully selected for this fascinating volume paint a warm, fully rounded portrait of this multi-talented artist.
