Eric Ravilious: Drawn To War
Documentary exploration of the life and work of one of Britain’s greatest, but most enigmatic, landscape and war artists.
The work of British painter, designer, book illustrator and wood-engraver, Eric Ravilious (1903 -1942), has become part of our cultural DNA, even though many people don’t recognise his name. His take on landscape and war was very much his own: richly off-kilter and mixing the mythic with the modernist.
Ravilious’s life is as compelling and enigmatic as his art, set against the dramatic wartime locations that inspired him. He died, aged just 39, in a plane crash while on commission as Official War Artist in Iceland in 1942.
Margy Kinmonth’s acclaimed documentary celebrates this unique and still undervalued British artist caught in the crossfire of war 80 years ago, much of whose legacy sank without trace until recently. It is told in Ravilious’s own words through previously unseen private correspondence as well as through the perspectives of cultural commentators including Alan Bennett and Grayson Perry.
UK 2022. Director Margy Kinmonth. With Ai Weiwei, Freddie Fox, Tamsin Greig, Grayson Perry, Alan Bennett, Robert Macfarlane. 88 mins. PG
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Dates & Tickets
| Date | Time | Ticket |
|---|---|---|
| Tuesday 9 September, 2025 | 7:30pm | Buy Tickets |
Reviews
★★★★
This vivid documentary argues that Ravilious should be as famous as Turner and Constable.
★★★★
This fine overview does convince you of his singularity, while also coaxing you into the sunlit, subtly clouded uplands of his lost world.