Friday’s Library Snapshot … Eric Ravilious
Eric Ravilious was killed on active service in 1942. He was an official Admiralty war artist, holding the temporary rank of Captain of the Royal Marines. In this official capacity he traveled to Iceland. The plane he was in disapeared and in the 1943 he was officially presumed dead.
Ravilious’ untimely death was a considerable misfortune for English design. At 39 he had already reached a distinguished position as a wood-engraver, a watercolour painter and as a graphic designer for industry.
Had he lived he would have had an impressive influence upon post-war industrial design for he had already bought fresh inspiration to the design of pottery, furniture, textiles and books.
1933 Engraving for a calendar for Monotype Corporation
Coastal defences 1940
The Wesbury Horse 1939
An Engraving 1927
Coat Hanger Doll's House 
Hello,
My name is Nicholas Franklin and I am working on a programme for the BBC that will in part be looking at Eric Ravilious. We are trying to find out where this Coastal Defence painting you feature comes from as I could not find it the book the England of Eric Ravilious. Any advice would be much appreciated.
All the best
Hello Nicholas, the picture I featured is from Ravilious at War / edited by Anne Ullmann (2002) and the Coastal defense is at New Haven in a letter to Helen Binyon he talks of the drawings his doing at the time and that the lithographs would take all winter … I hope this helps