Eric Ravilious ‘Caravans’ Greeting Card.

‘Caravans’ Eric Ravilious, watercolour, 1936.

‘He certainly had a soft spot for old wooden vehicles – a legacy perhaps of his family’s involvement in coachbuilding. In Sussex he discovered a pair of abandoned Boer War fever waggons, and had them towed up the lane to Furlongs. ‘We got a man to mend them inside,’ reported Tirzah [Garwood – married to Eric Ravilious], ‘and fit one up for a bedroom and the other for a living room and I nailed new canvas over the top of them and painted them green with red wheels.’

James Russell.

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, Instagram, and also presides over a rather good blog.

Eric Ravilious (22 July 1903 – 2 September 1942) was an exceptional watercolourist, wood engraver and designer. He grew up in the shadow of the Sussex Downs in the coastal town of Eastbourne, the surrounding landscape of which heavily influenced many of his best known works. His instantly recognisable style, palette and choice of subject have an almost universal appeal, a blend which has increased in popularity with the passing of time, particularly in the first two decades of the 21st century.