ERIC RAVILIOUS PRINTS
ABOUT US
We offer a beautifully curated collection of limited edition prints of Eric Ravilious' best loved watercolour paintings. Our fine art prints are lovingly produced to the highest quality using the latest in digital giclee technology on heavyweight fine art papers to ensure that they are as true to the original artworks as possible. Each fine art print is produced in a limited edition size of 650, hand-numbered and supplied with a Certificate of Authenticity.
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TRADE SUPPLIERS OF ERIC RAVILIOUS LIMITED EDITION PRINTS
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We are trade suppliers of Eric Ravilious prints to art galleries, museums, shops and picture framers around the UK and beyond. We can supply prints framed or unframed and a trade pricelist is available on request.
ERIC RAVILIOUS - ARTIST BIOGRAPHY
22nd July 1903 - 2nd September 1942
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The London born and Sussex-bred artist Eric Ravilious was a multi-talented print-maker, wood engraver and watercolour painter. He started life in Acton in West London but grew up on the South Coast of England in Eastbourne where he discovered his love of painting, design and printing. He went on to win a scholarship to the Royal College of Art. Ravilious studied in the Design School of the College where he befriended fellow artist and tutor Paul Nash. He also became friends and collaborator with print-maker Edward Bawden. In 1925 Ravilious received a travelling scholarship to Italy and visited Florence, Siena and the hill towns of Tuscany. Following this he began teaching part-time at the Eastbourne School of Art, and from 1930 taught at the Royal College of Art. Here he met and later married fellow artist Tirzah Garwood who was a talented artist and print-maker in her own right in 1930. They befriended Sussex-based artist Peggy Angus. She owned a farmhouse called 'Furlongs' nestled against the Downs near Firle not far from Lewes and Brighton and it was on visits to her home that Eric began his lifelong love affair with the South Downs. The Downland landscapes of Sussex featured widely in Eric's watercolours for the rest of his life. Notable paintings include 'Beachy Head Lighthouse', Wilmington Giant', 'Tea at Furlongs' and 'Chalk Paths'.
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Appointed Official War Artist in 1940, Eric's paintings took a new direction. He began to use his distinctive style and talent to document coastal defences in locations such as Chatham Dockyard in Kent, Newhaven in Sussex along with aeroplanes, warships and submarines.
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In February 1940, he reported to the Royal Naval barracks at Chatham Dockyard in Kent. 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 for bravery. On 24 May 1940 Ravilious sailed to Norway aboard HMS Highlander which was escorting 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 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 the 7th and 8th of June. The following evening Glorious was sunk, with great loss of life
It was in his role as War Artist that Eric lost his life aged only 39. He had been dispatched on a plane to look for a lost aircraft off the coast of Iceland but sadly, never returned. He was the first British war artist to die on active service in World War II.
A rare collection of Limited Edition Prints featuring his war paintings can be found here including 'Norway 1940', 'Searchlight at Dusk', 'Destroyers at Night', and 'Barrage Balloons'.