1. Eric William Ravilious was a British painter, designer, book illustrator and wood-engraver.
36 Facts About Eric Ravilious
1. 2.
Eric Ravilious 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.
3.
Eric Ravilious 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.
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Eric William Ravilious was born on 22 July 1903 in Churchfield Road, Acton, London, the son of Emma and Frank Ravilious.
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In 1925 Eric Ravilious received a travelling scholarship to Italy and visited Florence, Siena, and the hill towns of Tuscany.
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Between 1930 and 1932 Eric 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.
7.
In November 1933, Eric Ravilious held his first solo exhibition at the Zwemmer Gallery in London, titled "An Exhibition of Water-Colour Drawings".
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Eric Ravilious engraved more than 400 illustrations and drew over 40 lithographic designs for books and publications during his lifetime.
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Eric Ravilious went on to produce work both for large companies such as the Lanston Monotype Corporation and smaller, less commercial publishers, such as the Golden Cockerel Press, the Curwen Press and the Cresset Press.
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Eric Ravilious in turn influenced other wood engravers, such as Gwenda Morgan who depicted scenes in the South Downs and was commissioned by the Golden Cockerel Press.
11.
In February 1936, Eric 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.
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Production of Eric Ravilious' designs continued into the 1950s, with the coronation mug design being posthumously reworked for the coronation of Elizabeth II in 1953.
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Eric Ravilious undertook glass designs for Stuart Crystal in 1934, graphic advertisements for London Transport and furniture work for Dunbar Hay in 1936.
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Eric Ravilious was especially inspired by the landscape of the South Downs around Beddingham.
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Eric Ravilious frequently returned to Furlongs, the cottage of Peggy Angus.
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Eric Ravilious was commissioned to paint murals on the walls of the tea room on Victoria Pier at Colwyn Bay in 1934.
17.
Eric Ravilious's work decorated the walls of the tea room and featured an underwater ruin scene with pink and purple seaweed.
18.
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.
19.
Eric Ravilious considered joining the military as a rifleman but was deterred by friends; he joined a Royal Observer Corps post in Hedingham at the outbreak of war.
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Eric Ravilious was then accepted as a full-time salaried artist by the War Artists' Advisory Committee in December 1939.
21.
Eric Ravilious was given the rank of Honorary Captain in the Royal Marines and assigned to the Admiralty.
22.
Two members of the team Eric Ravilious painted were later awarded the Distinguished Service Cross.
23.
On 24 May 1940 Eric Ravilious sailed to Norway aboard HMS Highlander which was escorting HMS Glorious and the force being sent to recapture Narvik.
24.
On returning from Norway, Eric Ravilious was posted to Portsmouth from where he painted submarine interiors at Gosport and coastal defences at Newhaven.
25.
The rent on this property was paid partly in cash and partly in paintings, which are among the few private works Eric Ravilious completed during the war.
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In October 1941 Eric Ravilious transferred to Scotland, having spent six months based at Dover.
27.
In early 1942, Eric Ravilious was posted to York but shortly afterwards was allowed to return home to Shalford when his wife was diagnosed with breast cancer.
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Eric Ravilious spent a short time at RAF Debden before moving to RAF Sawbridgeworth in Hertfordshire.
29.
On 28 August 1942 Eric Ravilious flew to Reykjavik in Iceland and then travelled on to RAF Kaldadarnes.
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The next morning three aircraft were despatched at dawn to search for the missing plane and Eric Ravilious opted to join one of the crews.
31.
Eric Ravilious's body was never recovered and he is commemorated on the Chatham Naval Memorial.
32.
Eric Ravilious only held three solo exhibitions during his life from which the majority of works were bought by private collectors.
33.
Works by Eric Ravilious are 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.
34.
In 2019 the British Museum displayed one Eric Ravilious painting, an uncharacteristic painting of a house, unlike his usual style.
35.
In 2021, Mackerel Sky, a painting by Eric 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.
36.
In 2022 he was the subject of the film Eric Ravilious: Drawn to War written and directed by Margy Kinmonth.