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Eric Ravilious ‘Train Landscape’.
Eric Ravilious ‘Train Landscape’.
Eric Ravilious ‘Train Landscape’. Watercolour, 1939
‘Look at the detail in this painting: the upholstery so carefully and sensitively realised; the window strap that is clearly made of leather and not some artificial material; the window fittings and the striped draught strips. The interior of the railway compartment is so beautifully drawn, with such clarity, that it is not difficult to imagine leaning back on that not-very-comfortable seat or tugging at the stubborn window strap.
And yet all this life would not come to life on the paper were it not for an overarching imprecision. Put crudely, the picture is crooked. On the right hand side the seat cushions intrude awkwardly. The top edge of the painting cuts across a vent. With so much available, the white horse has barely made it into the frame at all. It’s as if someone noticed the chalk figure, grabbed the camera and – as the landmark slid by amid anguished cries of “Hurry up! You’ll miss it!” – focused briefly and pressed the shutter. The effect is spontaneous; the moment lives.’
James Russell is an art historian, curator and author with a special interest in 20th/21st century British artists, and has published a number of books on the art of Eric Ravilious, including Ravilious, Ravilious in Pictures 1: Sussex and the Downs, Ravilious in Pictures 2: The War Paintings, Ravilious in Pictures 3: A Country Life, Ravilious in Pictures 4: A Travelling Artist, and Ravilious: Submarine, the last five of which are published by the Mainstone Press. James can be found on Twitter, and also presides over a rather good blog.
‘Train Landscape’ is included in ‘Ravilious Collection Pt.1‘.
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3 replies to “Eric Ravilious ‘Train Landscape’.”
James
James, Re “Train Landscape”, 1939, could it be that the picture is crooked because the train is ascending an incline?
admin
Hi James – there’s more to this one than meets the eye – the view out of this window is of the Westbury White horse – I travelled this line last week, and there is no incline. But more to the point, the original painting shows the hills outside of Eastbourne, and the Wilmington Giant out of the window. Eric’s wife Tirzah changed the painting to its current form after the artist’s death. The incline is possibly due to a framing element.
Apologies for taking so long to reply. . .
Richard M Cumberland
The train is in motion, with the point of view that of someone on the train. In such a context, everything is moving and in flux to the eye. What one sees as being “crooked” in fact underscores that sense of movement and motion; and we are talking about train technology in the 1930s, not the 21st century. What ER has done is very a subtle application of basic lessons learnt from Cezanne, and how the human eye sees reality. Ironically, if he had placed a passenger in the compartment, the piece would not work! As it is, it is a work of genius, and a worthy heir to Turner’s famous “Rain, Steam and Speed”.