Eastbourne Framing Centre

Eric Ravilious at the Towner

Eric Ravilious at the TownerFamiliar Visions

Eric & James Ravilious: Father & Son

Towner, the contemporary art museum

3 July – 5 September 2010



£5.50 / £4 concession (inc. 16 to 18s) / under 16s free



Though Eric Ravilious died at war only a few years after his son James was born, parallels can be seen between the artistic practice of father and son. For Towner’s summer exhibition, the work of Eric Ravilious will be shown alongside that of his son James for the very first time, inviting exploration of the similarities between them and revealing a deep-seated love of the land inherent to both.



Towner in Eastbourne is renowned for its long association with Eric Ravilious, as well as its commitment to shedding new light on an artist’s practice. Towner’s major summer exhibition aims to showcase some of Ravilious’s best works – including Cuckmere Haven, 1939 (Towner Collection) and The Wilmington Giant, 1939 (Victoria and Albert Museum, London) – whilst at the same time placing his work in a new context; that of his son, the late photographer James Ravilious.



The exhibition will focus on Eric Ravilious’s works of Sussex, a landscape he recorded ardently through his watercolours, woodblocks and prints. These works will be shown alongside a selection of James’s photographs of North Devon. Both artists carefully selected and used their own media to record, in their distinctive styles, the landscapes to which they were closely affiliated.



Eric Ravilious (1903 – 1942) was brought up in Eastbourne, and following his time at the Royal College of Art he returned frequently to Sussex where he stayed with Peggy Angus at Furlongs, her home near Lewes. He was greatly inspired by the beauty of the South Downs, and considered his time there to have "...altered my whole outlook and way of painting, I think because the colour of the landscape was so lovely and the design so beautifully obvious.” 1



James Ravilious (1939-1999) was born in Eastbourne and studied at St Martin's School of Art, London. After marrying Robin, the daughter of glass-engraver Laurence Whistler, in 1970, they moved to Devon to live in a cottage near her family home. James was self-taught as a photographer, but his accomplished works combine great technical ability with an understanding and affection for the people and landscape that he represented.



Eric Ravilious has long been associated with Towner – works including Downs in Winter (1934) were purchased for the permanent collection during his lifetime, and following his death in 1942 his family recognised Towner’s commitment to his work and made an important long-term loan of paintings and archive material. This has since been enhanced through gifts and further purchases of key works, leading to Towner having one of the largest and most significant holdings of Ravilious’s work. Towner has continued its association with the Ravilious lineage through the acquisition of photographs from James Ravilious’s Beaford archive.



This exhibition will include works from Towner’s own collection alongside major loans from public galleries, as well as little seen works from private collections. Towner is pleased to be able to showcase the work of Ravilious in its new purpose-built gallery, which opened in April 2009. The new building enables Towner to bring nationally significant exhibitions to a South Coast town, and its dramatic setting with stunning views over the South Downs makes it the perfect space for an exhibition highlighting Ravilious’s love of the Sussex landscape.



Whilst Towner remains committed to showing and acquiring contemporary art, an annual summer exhibition of modern and historic art is central to Towner’s exhibition programme. These exhibitions should have connections to Towner’s location or permanent collection, thus Familiar Visions is a perfect choice for Towner’s first summer exhibition.



Familiar Visions sets the scene for a “summer of Ravilous” in Sussex, with an exhibition of Eric Ravilious woodcuts at Charleston and an accompanying exhibition of Sussex landscapes at Ditchling Museum. Depictions of the Sussex landscape can also be seen in Towner’s concurrent collection display, A Walk in the Park, a celebration of the South Downs’ new national park status.

Posted: Tuesday, 25 May 2010