Eric Ravilious

To my brother Marek - the greatest gift one can give is inspiration...

A cracking Christmas present from Marek - two books of prints by British illustrator Eric Ravilious (A Travelling Artist and A Country Life). Though I'd never heard of the artist, the images, the style, immediately resonated with me, a deep association with the England of my childhood. Despite the fact that he died in 1942 (plane crash off Iceland, one of three official British war artists to die during WW2), Ravilious's style was extremely influential, spawning many imitators.

His engravings could be found in London Transport advertising materials (such as the pre-war Country Walks series) and on the cover of Wisden's Cricketers' Almanack since 1938. The Festival of Britain graphic design aesthetic drew deeply on Ravilious' legacy. But then Ravilious himself studied under Paul Nash, whose influence is clearly visible in Ravilious's work. I can also see similarities with the works of another war artist, Edward Ardizzone, who's illustrated books I'd read as a child.

Perusing the prints, many of which are landscapes, there is a clear bias towards my own visual preferences, rolling roads over folding hills, parallel lines converging in the distance, empty vistas, few people, the light on the land from the moody English skies captured. Ravilious lived for a while on the banks of the Thames at Hammersmith, in a house marked with a blue plaque on the corner of Upper Mall and Weltje Road.  And the rural Sussex and Wiltshire that inspired Ravilious once beckoned me out for many a bike ride when I lived in London.

Below are a few of the images that have struck me with the clarity of their emotional appeal. Having stood where he stood, and felt what he felt, the artist was able to recreate that same sense in another mind at another time in another place. And that is genius.

Below: Caravans, 1936

Below: Chalk Paths, 1935

Below: Train Going over a Bridge at Night, 1935

Below: Wiltshire Landscape, 1937

Below - Sussex Landscape, 1931

Do these images click with you as they click with me?

Thank you Marek for these inspiring books!

This time two years ago:
Dark thoughts at 2015 comes to an end

This time three years ago:
Shots from the sky

This time four years ago:
One-millionth of a zloty 

This time six years ago:
Random year-end thoughts

This time seven years ago:
Beery litter louts

This time eight years ago:
Miserable grey London

This time nine years ago:
Parrots in Ealing

This time ten years ago:
Xmas lites, Jeziorki