Ravilious & Co

The Pattern of Friendship

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The acclaimed biography detailing the lives of the British inter-war artists and designers centred on Ravilious – an enthralling narrative of creative achievement, joy and tragedy

In recent years Eric Ravilious has become recognized as one of the most important British artists of the 20th century, whose work captures an essential sense of place and the spirit of mid-century England. What is less appreciated is that he did not work in isolation, but within a much wider network of artists, friends and lovers – Edward Bawden, Barnett Freedman, Enid Marx, Tirzah Garwood, Percy Horton, Peggy Angus and Helen Binyon among them. Andy Friend tells the story of this group of artists from their student days through to the Second World War and Ravilious’s untimely death, revealing how they influenced each other and how a shared experience animated their work.

Generously illustrated and drawing on extensive research, Ravilious & Co. is an enthralling narrative of creative achievement, joy and tragedy.

Extent: 336 pp
Format: Paperback
Illustrations: 240
Publication date: 2022-09-01
Size: 24.0 x 16.5 cm
ISBN: 9780500296769

Press Reviews

The book is magnificent. I can’t recommend it enough ... Andy Friend seems to have opened new vistas on the lives, loves and connections of this mesmerising and migrant artist – right up to his last fatal flight off Iceland in 1942
Robert Macfarlane

Shrewdly and sympathetically charts the wide-ranging influence of this group and their personal and professional relationships
Sunday Times

A fascinating slice of English artistic and social history
New York Review of Books

A lovingly researched and crafted portrait of intricately connected creative lives... New voices emerge from the archives, unfamiliar images light up the pages. Here, above all, is the joyous making of art
Alexandra Harris, author of Weatherland

About the Authors

Andy Friend first became interested in the art of Eric Ravilious and his circle while living in Australia and missing the English landscape. Two decades later, back in Sussex, he conceived and co-curated Towner’s major touring exhibition ‘Ravilious & Co.’, which attracted 100,000 visitors. Alan Powers, author of Eric Ravilious: Artist and Designer, teaches, writes and curates on themes relating to twentieth-century art, architecture and design. He published Edward Ardizzone: Artist and Illustrator in 2016, and Enid Marx: The Pleasures of Pattern in 2018.

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