Artist: Eric Ravilious
Date: 1939
Medium: Watercolour and pencil on paper
Dimensions: 43 x 58.4 cm
Credit: Towner Collection, purchased with the assistance of Art Fund, National Heritage Memorial Fund, Arts Council England, Victoria and Albert Museum Purchase Grant Fund, The Monument Trust and Eastbourne Arts Circle. Image Towner Eastbourne
Eric Ravilious grew up in Eastbourne and was awarded a scholarship for the Royal College of Art where he first met Edward Bawden, his lifelong friend who was opposite in character but closely aligned artistically. Paul Nash their tutor described their RCA year group as “an outbreak of talent”. At an incredibly productive point in their careers they were both appointed as war artists to document the Second World War, but sadly Ravilious died in a reconnaissance plane over Iceland in 1942.
Beachy Head is an important Ravilious watercolour depicting the downland hills, lighthouse and white chalk cliffs of Beachy Head, Eastbourne’s world-famous landmark and one of the most iconic features of the Sussex coastline.