SPOTLIGHT ON ERIC RAVILIOUS

Wed 14 Jan 2026, 6.00–7.00pm

At the Museum and Online

An Exclusive Talk for Members of the Ashmolean

In-person event will take place in the Headley Lecture Theatre, and online via Zoom

Doors open at 5:30pm, with drinks and nibbles provided

Onsite tickets are £20, online tickets are £10. Booking is essential. Book below

With David Boyd Haycock, author, curator, lecturer and Visiting Research Fellow at Oxford Brookes University

As a watercolourist, muralist, ceramicist, wood-engraver, book illustrator, furniture designer and official war artist, Eric Ravilious (1903–1942) was one of the most prolific and distinctive young British artists working between the two World Wars. He is also an artist who continues to win ever-increasing popularity, as recent exhibitions and sales of his work have shown.

A huge ship's screw sits on a railway truck in a wintry snow scene by modern artist Eric Ravilious

Ship's Screw on a Railway Truck, Eric Ravilious, 1940, watercolour

The Ashmolean Museum’s collection holds several examples of Ravilious's watercolours, prints and ceramics. At this ‘spotlight’ talk, Dr Haycock will explore some of these, whilst looking at the whole range of the artist's brilliant, but sadly brief career.

Ravilious served as a war artist, and was the first British war artist to die on active service in World War 2 when the aircraft he was in was lost off Iceland.

Dr. David Boyd Haycock is a Visiting Research Fellow at Oxford Brookes University. A freelance lecturer and curator, he is the author of a number of books, including A Crisis of Brilliance: Five Young British Artists and the Great War (2009) and Brilliant Destiny: The Age of Augustus John (2023).

Where to see works by Eric Ravilious

Western Art Print Room at the Ashmolean Museum and Tate Britain (you will need to book a place and request the works you wish to see in advance of your visit).
Towner Art Gallery, Eastbourne, East Sussex
Fry Gallery, Saffron Walden, Essex

Further Reading