Eric Ravilious & The White Horses of Wiltshire

Eric Ravilious, The Westbury Horse, 1939 (DACS/Artist's estate)

Although figures can be found carved into chalk hillsides all across the downland of southern England, a disproportionate number of the nation's white horses are in Wiltshire. I think there are eight altogether, with the Westbury Horse the most easily seen. Take a train from London to Devon or Cornwall via Castle Cary and you'll be treated to a view rather like the one Eric Ravilious portrayed (with a little help from his wife Tirzah) in 'Train Landscape'. The interior of a train may have changed but the white horse remains the same, which is no doubt one reason why people love them.

Quite how devoted people are to these equine carvings will be demonstrated over the coming week, as a whole series of related events gets under way. Tomorrow sees the launch of the Salisbury International Festival's celebration of Wiltshire's White Horses, which culminates next Saturday (30th June) with the illumination of the Devizes and Alton Barnes White Horses. The organisers promise a magical evening of fire, light and music at each venue, free of charge and with no ticket needed.

Between now and then, artist Ali Pretty will be leading a 100 mile walk around the county's chalk horses, with walks of varying lengths and difficulty on each day. As well as exploring the fascinating landscape of the chalk downs, walkers will have the chance to meet historians, environmentalists, writers (including Michael Morpurgo), artists and seasoned long distance walkers. There's no charge to join in, but you do need a ticket as numbers are limited.

Meanwhile, as reported in the New York Times yesterday, the Wiltshire Heritage Museum in Devizes is putting on show a new and rather extraordinary acquisition: the dummy of a Puffin Picture Book on white horses that was proposed by Eric Ravilious in 1940/41 and accepted by publisher Noel Carrington, but never produced. There's more on this story here, but the upshot is that the museum bid successfully for the dummy in January and is now revealing it to the public for the first time.

I'm planning to go and see this marvellous artefact in situ before I give a talk on the subject next Thursday at Devizes Town Hall, under the auspices of the Devizes Festival. The talk sold out a while ago but there are mutterings about a second one...

Meanwhile, exciting news from Museum chief David Dawson, who has been telling the BBC that he wants to produce a version of the Ravilious book:

"We would like to try and create the sort of book he intended," he told an interviewer. "It can't be a re-creation as there's not enough information - so it's going to take a lot of work."

I wonder whether the interval between proposal and publication would be some kind of world record!

Devizes Festival Preview: Eric Ravilious & The White Horses of Wiltshire

Eric Ravilious, Train Landscape, 1939 (DACS/artist's estate)

STOP PRESS! DEVIZES TALK SOLD OUT! 2ND DATE POSSIBLE...

On June 28th I'll be at Devizes Town Hall, giving an illustrated talk on Eric Ravilious and the White Horses of Wiltshire as part of the Devizes Festival. After very enjoyable events at the RWA Bristol, Much Ado Books in Alfriston and Greenside School in west London I'm looking forward to it, especially as I'm planning to ride my bike at least part of the way from Bristol.

Apart from the wonderful enthusiasm for Ravilious's work I find in all these different places, the thing I enjoy most is meeting people with a connection to the world I've studied through books and correspondence. The number of people, for instance, who were taught by or are related to Peggy Angus (artist, teacher, tenant of Furlongs in Sussex) is astonishing, and everyone has something fascinating to add to the picture.

Ravilious disappeared on active service 70 years ago this coming September, and his world grows ever more remote. There are few people left these days who remember him personally, although artist David Hepher shared some tantalizing childhood memories at the Fry Gallery last year.

People grow old and die; letters and sketches and so on are scattered and lost. But whereas this process is irreversible for us mortals, the things which surround us can return from the dead - or appear to. Which brings us to my reason for coming to Devizes in June...

Eric Ravilious, White Horse Dummy, c1940

Earlier this year a remarkable artifact came up for auction: the dummy of a book of white horses and other chalk figures which was put together by Ravilious in 1940. He had already made the drawings he needed, and he prepared the dummy for Noel Carrington, editor of the new Puffin Picture Books series for children. Carrington was all set to go ahead with the project but due to time constraints Ravilious was forced to postpone.

For years it was believed that the artist had taken this dummy to Iceland with him, and perhaps had it with him when he disappeared. Then it turned up in London, and I assumed someone had found it as people do sometimes when they go through boxes of old papers. But even this was wrong. The dummy wasn't lost. Rather it was in the possession of artist Roland Collins, who had been given it by Noel Carrington when they were neighbours in Percy Street, Bloomsbury during and after the war.

I wrote a post on the dummy in January, just before the little book came up for auction. I hoped that a museum would buy it rather than a private collector, and in the end the bidding was won by the Wiltshire Heritage Museum in Devizes. There's something particularly satisfying about this, given the proximity of the white horses at Westbury and Uffington, both of which Ravilious drew, and it gives me a chance to revisit the landscapes I explored in 'Ravilious in Pictures: Sussex and the Downs'.

Eric Ravilious, The Westbury Horse, 1939 (DACS/artist's estate)

Curious to think that when Ravilious sketched the white horses in December 1939 they were about to be turfed over, to prevent them being used as navigational aids by enemy aircraft. It was by no means certain that they would be uncovered again.

I'm at the Town Hall, Devizes at 8pm, 28th June. The Devizes Festival runs from 13 June to 1 July and there are all kinds of strange and wonderful events to choose from: details are here.


Future talks:


Alan Powers and I will be talking about Eric Ravilious for the Friends of the Towner in Eastbourne on September 2.


I'll be discussing Ravilious and Paul Nash at the Rye Arts Festival later in September.

Eric Ravilious: Illustrated Talks for 2012

Eric Ravilious, Rye Harbour, 1938

I've just proof-read 'Ravilious in Pictures: A Travelling Artist' for the last time, so now it's up to the printers, who I'm sure will produce a fabulous book. It's strange to think that almost four years have passed since we first started talking about 'Sussex and the Downs', which in turn grew out of the quest Tim Mainstone and I went on to find the shops depicted by Ravilious in 'High Street' (1938).

One of the things I've really enjoyed about this whole adventure is meeting people at talks, signings and exhibition launches, so I'm excited to have lots of events coming up. Mostly these are illustrated talks in which I show slides of paintings, archive photographs and my own pictures, and talk about the stories and characters associated with them. So far, the dates booked for this year go like this:

Saturday March 10th, 12-2pm: Launch and signing of 'Ravilious in Pictures: A Travelling Artist',
Royal West of England Academy, Bristol.

Saturday March 24th, time TBC: Illustrated Talk on Eric Ravilious, RWA, Bristol (contact RWA for ticket info).

Tuesday March 27th, 7pm: Celebrating Eric Ravilious, Illustrated Talk at The Old Chapel Centre, Alfriston, Sussex (contact Much Ado Books for ticket info).

Thursday June 28th, time TBC: Eric Ravilious & the White Horses of Wiltshire, Illustrated Talk at the Assembly Room, Town Hall, Devizes, Wilts (part of Devizes Festival - see website nearer the time for ticket info)

Sunday Sept 2, 3pm: Eric Ravilious: A Life in Pictures, Illustrated Talk with me AND Alan Powers at the Birley Centre, Eastbourne (ticket info nearer the time from Friends of the Towner)

Friday Sept 21st, time TBC: Two Travelling Artists - Paul Nash & Eric Ravilious, Illustrated Talk at the Rye Arts Festival (info from Rye Arts Festival nearer the time)

I don't think I've missed anything out, although it's always possible... Other events will probably be arranged as the year progresses. If you're interested in booking a talk, please get in touch via the Comments or Twitter, or contact The Mainstone Press.