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Country Walks

Print
1935-1936 (made), 1936 (published)
Artist/Maker
Ravilious, Eric (artist)
Place of origin
London (made)
United Kingdom (made)

Two images printed together as one proof. On the left a cow and a bull in a field, separated by a stone wall, with a shaped top and right side border serrated by trees; on the right a horse standing next to a mill stream, with watermill (based on Hull's Mill, Castle Hedingham) in the background, the forest behind marking out the shape of the top and side borders.

Object details

Category
Prints
Object type
Print
TitleCountry Walks (manufacturer's title)
Materials and techniques
Wood-engraving on paper
Printing Ink
Paper
Wood-Engraving (Process)
Brief description
Proof for two of the covers for a series of booklets issued by London Transport to promote the Green Line coach routes entitled 'Country Walks', Eric Ravilious (1903-1942). Wood-engraving, 1936.
Physical description
Two images printed together as one proof. On the left a cow and a bull in a field, separated by a stone wall, with a shaped top and right side border serrated by trees; on the right a horse standing next to a mill stream, with watermill (based on Hull's Mill, Castle Hedingham) in the background, the forest behind marking out the shape of the top and side borders.
Dimensions
  • Sheet height: 9.4cm
  • Sheet width: 15.2cm
  • Printed area height: 4.5cm
  • Printed area width: 10.5cm
  • Each image height: 4.5cm
  • Each image width: 5.1cm
Production typeProof
Gallery label
(October 2010)
Eric Ravilious made these two woodcuts for the covers of the Country Walks booklets issued by London Transport in 1936. The booklets promoted the Green Line rural coach routes. They are part of a larger initiative begun by Frank Pick in 1908 to promote London's transport through stylish design and advertising.
(1995)
Eric Ravilious (1903-1942)

...

f) Proof for a bookplate for Gwyneth Lloyd Thomas. 1932
Wood engraving
E.550-1972

...

Eric Ravilious had an unrivalled sense of lively decorative pattern.
This partly arose from his mastery of the principle of the reversed
out image. It entailed an organisation of design where black
silhouettes should appear against a white background and white
against a black. This principle was applied even in the small
commercial work shown here. In 1935 a contemporary wrote in
admiration of the range of his work which included a 'variety of
designs for business and miscellaneous purposes (with all the
restrictions this work often implies) which we think will rank
amongst his finest and most spontaneous achievements...'.
Subjects depicted
Bull
Cow
Trees
Water-Mill
Horse
Stream
Place depicted
Castle Hedingham
Bibliographic references
  • Harling, Robert. Notes on the wood-engravings of Eric Ravilious. London, 1946, p. 62.
  • Richards, J. M. The wood-engravings of Eric Ravilious. London: Lion and Unicorn Press, 1972, no. 90.
  • Mainstone, Tim [Ed.] Away We Go! Advertising London's Transport: Edward Bawden and Eric Ravilious. Norwich, The Mainstone Press, 2006.
Collection
Prints, Drawings & Paintings Collection
Accession number
E.578-1972

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Record createdJune 30, 2009
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1025087/country-walks-print-ravilious-eric/
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