Eric William Ravilious was a British artist who, although born in London, was well known for his paintings of the Sussex landscape. He was part of a group of artists that lived and worked in Sussex before the war who did not just paint, they used many methods and skills including producing woodcuts. His landscapes of Sussex and Wiltshire are in many ways are classic representations of the British countryside on the eve of war.
On the outbreak of war in 1939 Ravilious joined the Royal Observer Corps and was stationed in Essex where he painted aspects of this often forgotten part of the Home Front. In December 1939 he was appointed an official War Artist and became an Honorary Captain in the Royal Marines. He painted scenes along the Home Front at Dover and Newhaven, and produced a lot of naval related paintings at this time including one of HMS Glorious in 1940, shortly before it was sunk in action.
After a posting to Norway, where he witnessed the campaign there, he spent time on the home front again painting more Naval scenes and then being attached to various Royal Air Force squadrons and bases including RAF Sawbridgeworth.
In early 1942, Ravilious’ wife was ill with cancer and he requested to be posted nearer to home, where he was on attachment to more RAF squadrons, and painted various aspects of the war in the air. He often went up in Tiger Moths to sketch aircraft while in flight. In the summer of 1942 he was given a posting to RAF Kaldadarnes in Iceland, and flew in on 1st September 1942.
Only a short while after posting to the squadron in Iceland, he was killed on 2nd September 1942 when an aircraft from the unit went missing in poor weather, and he joined a crew to help rescue them, but they soon became casualties themselves in the increasingly detonating weather. A tyre from the aircraft was washed up a few days later, confirming the loss of aircraft and the entire crew, including Eric Ravilious. He is commemorated on the Chatham Memorial. Like so many, Ravilious was a ‘what if’ of the Second World War: had he survived, would he be better known, what would he have gone on to achieve?
You can discover more about Ravilious’ work at the Fry Art Gallery and the Towner Gallery in Eastbourne, as well as on Twitter:
A new film Eric Ravilious – Drawn To War was released in 2022. You can watch the trailer here:
World at War Podcast 