Sunday, September 11, 2016

Eric Ravilious and Henry Moore in the 1940s

Eric Ravilious
Submarine controls
1941
lithograph
British Museum

Eric Ravilious
Submarines
1941
lithograph
British Museum

Eric Ravilious
Submarine Commander 
1941
lithograph
British Museum

Eric Ravilious
Submarine ward room
1941
lithograph
British Museum

Eric Ravilious
Midnight Sun from a Destroyer in the North Sea
1940
drawing
Tate Gallery

Eric Ravilious
Submarines in Dry Dock
1940
drawing
Tate Gallery

 In 1940-41 at the beginning of World War II the artist Eric Ravilious (1903-1942) and the artist Henry Moore (1898-1986) were both occupied full-time making public pictures. Both were official War Artists, paid by the British government to record the conflict as best they could. The Ravilious drawings and lithographs are upbeat and buoyant, in keeping with his sunny temperament. Moore's work is noble, dignified, gloomy. He was in London during the bombing raids, and his subjects were those taking shelter in underground tunnels. Events supplied a heavy and inartistic irony when cheerful young Ravilious was killed in the course of duty, while grim-minded Moore survived to become a powerful international celebrity.

Henry Moore
from Shelter Sketchbook
1940-41
drawing
British Museum

Henry Moore
from Shelter Sketchbook
1940-41
drawing
British Museum

Henry Moore
from Shelter Sketchbook
1940-41
drawing
British Museum

Henry Moore
from Shelter Sketchbook
1940-41
drawing
British Museum

Henry Moore
from Shelter Sketchbook
1940-41
drawing
British Museum

Henry Moore
from Shelter Sketchbook
1940-41
drawing
British Museum