[117703] Manchester Art Gallery : Jug & Beaker

Manchester Art Gallery.

Jug & Beaker from a Lemonade Set.

Designed by Eric Ravilious (1903-1942).

Made by Josiah Wedgwood & Sons Ltd, 1938.

 

Part of the Industrial Art Collection, a pioneering collecting project begun in 1933 by Director Laurence Haward to collect examples of contemporary design for mass production. Purchased from the manufacturer, 1939.

 

he London born and Sussex-bred artist Eric Ravilious was a multi-talented printmaker, wood engraver and watercolour painter. He started life in Acton in West London but grew up in Eastbourne where he discovered his love of painting, design and printing. He went on to win a scholarship to the Royal College of Art. He studied in the Design School of the College where Ravilious befriended fellow artist and tutor Paul Nash. He also became friends, and collaborator with print-maker Edward Bawden.

 

He married fellow artist Tirzah Garwood who was a talented printmaker in her own right in 1930 and together they befriended Sussex-based artist Peggy Angus. She owned a farmhouse called Furlongs nestled against the Downs near Firle not far from Lewes and Brighton and it was on visits to her home that Eric began his lifelong love affair with the South Downs. The Downland landscapes of Sussex featured widely in Eric's watercolour paintings and prints for years to com.

 

Appointed Official War Artist in 1940, Eric's watercolours took a new direction. He began to use his talents and distinctive style to document coastal defences in locations such as Newhaven in Sussex, aeroplanes, warships and submarines. Indeed, it was in his role as War Artist that Eric lost his life aged only 39. He had been dispatched on a plane to look for a lost aircraft but sadly, never returned.

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