Leaving Scapa Flow Limited Edition Print by Eric Ravilious
Ravilious embraced the opportunity to travel that was afforded him in his role as War Artist. 'Leaving Scapa Flow' was painted on the 24th May 1940 and depicts the HMS Glorious leaving the British naval base in the Orkney Islands en route to Norway. The view is from the deck with a lone naval officer in yellow waterproofs going off to war. As the threat of war loomed, Ravilious showed his anxiety about the impending conflict in a letter he wrote in September 1937, submitting work to the Artists Against Fascism and War exhibition: "Dear Sir, please accept my painting… Like many artists I am drawn to war as a subject, but deeply troubled by it…". When war did break out in Europe, Kenneth Clark appointed artists to respond to the conflict and to create a permanent record of war from an eye-witness point of view. More than 300 artists were commissioned by the War Artists Advisory Committee, the scheme Clark devised, including Stanley Spencer, Henry Moore, Bawden, Paul and John Nash and Eric Ravilious got his commission on Christmas Eve, 1939.