Photograph by James Ravilious, gelatin silver print, 1979

A vintage gelatin-silver print showing a family of five in a working-class domestic interior. All five figures are intently watching a television, not shown in the photograph.

Beaford Arts, a village arts centre in Devon, commissioned Ravilious to contribute images to the Beaford Archive, intended as a photographic record of a life in the largely unspoilt but vulnerable country area within a 10-mile radius of Beaford. During the course of seventeen years Ravilious took over 80,000 black and white images of many aspects of life in the area between the Taw and Torridge rivers of North Devon, including landscapes, studies of farmers at work, special occasions and ancient traditions in the local towns and villages.

The gift of Robin Ravilious

James Ravilious originally trained as a painter, but was inspired to take up photography by visiting the Henri Cartier-Bresson exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum in 1969. In 1972 he moved to North Devon, and began what would become his life's work in documenting the people and landscape of this region for the Beaford Archive.
This image shows farmer Dick French with family and helpers taking a break from work to watch the 1985 Cup Final.

E.747-2012