Eric Ravilious Downland Man

A ground-breaking exhibition - 25 September 2021 - 30 January 2022

Iconic twentieth century artist, Eric Ravilious, was inspired by the glorious Wiltshire and Sussex Downs. Beautiful paintings such as 'The Vale of the White Horse' are among his most recognisable and truly capture the spirit of these wide-open spaces. This is the first time many of these works have been shown together and it is the first exhibition dedicated solely to Ravilious’ fascination with the Downs of Southern England.

The display will be packed with significant loans from the V&A, the British Museum, Imperial War Museum, Towner Gallery, Tate Britain, and the National Museum of Wales as well as loans from private collections. Spinning a revealing and engaging narrative is guest curator James Russell (mastermind of Ravilious at Dulwich Picture Gallery 2015)  who will show how these works illuminate the national fascination with downland landscapes, mythology and archaeology which gripped Britain between the Wars.

Thank you to:

  • Weston Loan Programme – Art Fund
  • Arts Council England
  • The Worshipful Company of Mercers
  • The Walter Guinness Foundation
  • The Golsoncott Foundation
  • The Verdun-Smith Family Charitable Settlement
  • Devizes U3A Sketching for Pleasure Group

See below for some of the fantastic works that will be featured in the exhibition

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Eric Ravilious: Downland Man exhibition

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Planned to be in the exhibition

Watercolour looking along a grassy ridge towards a chalk cut figure of a White Horse on the top of the hill.

'Vale of the White Horse' by Eric Ravilious, 1939. © Tate Images

Watercolour showing a chalk figure on a hillside of a man holding two staves. Wire fence in the foreground.

'Long Man of Wilmington' by Eric Ravilious, 1939. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

Watercolour looking at houses across a bay with white chalk cliffs in the foreground. The flash of a gun firing on the hillside in the distance.

'Shelling by Night' by Eric Ravilious, 1941. © Tate Images

Watercolour showing a downland landscape of a valley of pasture with a track and trees in the foreground.

'The Causeway, Wiltshire Downs' by Eric Ravilious, April 1937. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

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