The Boy, Eric Ravilious in his studio at Redcliffe Road

Displayed as part of the Towner 2026 Bigger Picture.

Artist: Edward Bawden

Date: 1929

Medium: Watercolour, pen and ink on paper

Dimensions: 47.6 x 70.9 cm

Credit: Towner Collection. Image Towner Eastbourne, © Estate of Edward Bawden

Edward Bawden was a close friend and contemporary of Eric Ravilious; they both attended the Design school at the Royal College of Art and were tutored by Paul Nash. Ravilious was known as ‘The Boy’ to his close friends due to his youthful looks. This portrayal has him partially obscured by an exuberant floral arrangement wearing a blue smock jacket and working on the design for a mural for which he and Bawden were awarded a commission to produce for Morley College for Working Men and Women. Ravilious returned the favour in 1930 with a portrait of Bawden in the same studio. Douglas Bliss, Ravilious and later Bawden all rented rooms at Redcliffe Road whilst working in London.