Connections with Brighton and Hove :
Eric Ravilious loved the Sussex countryside and his many paintings of the Downs are still popular today.
Born in Acton in 1903, he was educated at Eastbourne Grammar School after his parents moved to the south coast and ran an antiques shop.
In 1919 he won a scholarship to the Eastbourne School of Art and in 1922 another to study at the Design School at the Royal College of Art.
He was a painter, designer and war artist and tragically died in 1942 on an air rescue mission off Iceland. His body was never found.
The Towner gallery in Eastbourne holds the largest number of works by him and has opened a dedicated Ravilious Room so that people can enjoy his work all the year round.
He also has paintings in many other galleries and the Imperial War Museum. His local landscapes tend to cover the area between Firle and Eastbourne, his wood engraving style has been copied by many new artists.
Ravilious engraved more than 400 illustrations and when painting used watercolours rather than oils. He was both versatile and prolific.
