R.A.F. Planes on an Airfield Print by Eric Ravilious
Ravillious was unarguably one of the greatest watercolourist painters of the 20th Century, best-loved for his paintings of the South Downs. He was a chronicler of mid-century British life, whose subject matter is now seen as the epitome of traditional Englishness – a cream tea on the lawn, cricket on the green, and keeping the home fires burning through the dark days of the second world war.
In 1940 Eric took on his role as Official War Artist becoming one of the finest and most prolific war painters of his generation before his death while on active duty during World War Two. Somehow Ravillious manages to infuse the watercolour HMS Glorious in the Arctic with charm and tranquility – more pleasure cruiser than vessel of destruction, while planes glide gaily overhead in an exquisite composition of deceptive simplicity. Or his painting Dangerous Work at Low Tide, 1940, depicting naval officers at the oyster beds in Whitstable, Kent, on a mission to defuse a German mine. Ravilious's soft pastel colours, cartoon-like figures, tranquil tide pools and sky, can't help but also defuse the apparent danger or threat.