Gwen Raverat
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Gwendolen Mary "Gwen" Raverat (née Darwin; 26 August 1885 – 11 February 1957), was an English
wood engraver Wood engraving is a printmaking technique, in which an artist works an image or ''matrix'' of images into a block of wood. Functionally a variety of woodcut, it uses relief printing, where the artist applies ink to the face of the block and pr ...
who was a founder member of the
Society of Wood Engravers The Society of Wood Engravers (SWE) is a UK-based artists’ exhibiting society, formed in 1920, one of its founder-members being Eric Gill. It was originally restricted to artist-engravers printing with oil-based inks in a press, distinct from ...
. Her memoir ''
Period Piece A historical drama (also period drama, costume drama, and period piece) is a work set in a past time period, usually used in the context of film and television. Historical drama includes historical fiction and romances, adventure films, and swas ...
'' was published in 1952.


Biography

Gwendolen Mary Darwin was born in
Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...
in 1885; she was the daughter of astronomer Sir
George Howard Darwin Sir George Howard Darwin, (9 July 1845 – 7 December 1912) was an English barrister and astronomer, the second son and fifth child of Charles Darwin and Emma Darwin. Biography George H. Darwin was born at Down House, Kent, the fifth chil ...
and his wife, Lady Darwin (née
Maud du Puy Martha Haskins, Lady Darwin ( du Puy; July 27, 1861 - 6 February 1947), known as Maud Darwin, was an American socialite and the wife of the English Cambridge University astronomer Sir George Darwin. Biographical notes She was born as Martha ...
). She was the granddaughter of the naturalist
Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended fr ...
and a first cousin of poet
Frances Cornford Frances Crofts Cornford (née Darwin; 30 March 1886 – 19 August 1960) was an English poet. Life She was the daughter of the botanist Francis Darwin and Newnham College fellow Ellen Wordsworth Crofts (1856-1903), and born into the Darwin ...
(née Darwin). She married the French painter
Jacques Raverat Jacques Pierre Paul Raverat (pronounced Rav-er-ah) (20 March 1885– 6 March 1925) was a French painter; Raverat was the son of Georges Pierre Raverat and Helena Lorena Raverat, née Caron; he was born in Paris, France, in 1885. Raverat s ...
in 1911. They were active in the
Bloomsbury Group The Bloomsbury Group—or Bloomsbury Set—was a group of associated English writers, intellectuals, philosophers and artists in the first half of the 20th century, including Virginia Woolf, John Maynard Keynes, E. M. Forster and Lytton Strac ...
and Rupert Brooke's Neo-Pagan group until they moved to the south of France, where they lived in
Vence Vence (; oc, Vença) is a commune set in the hills of the Alpes Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France, north of Nice and Antibes. Ecclesiastical history The first known Bishop of Vence is Severu ...
, near
Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...
, until his death from
multiple sclerosis Multiple (cerebral) sclerosis (MS), also known as encephalomyelitis disseminata or disseminated sclerosis, is the most common demyelinating disease, in which the insulating covers of nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord are damaged. This d ...
in 1925. They had two daughters: Elisabeth (1916–2014), who married the Norwegian politician
Edvard Hambro Edvard Isak Hambro (22 August 1911 – 1 February 1977) was a Norwegian legal scholar, diplomat and politician for the Conservative Party. He was the 25th President of the United Nations General Assembly (1970–1971). Personal life Hambro ...
, and Sophie Jane (1919–2011), who married the Cambridge scholar
M. G. M. Pryor Mark Gillachrist Marlborough Pryor (25 February 1915 – 19 October 1970) was a British biologist, who was Senior Tutor and Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. Pryor was the middle son of Lt. Col. Walter Marlborough Pryor and his wife Ethne Ph ...
and later Charles Gurney. Raverat is buried in the
Trumpington Trumpington is a village and parish to the south of Cambridge, England. The village is an electoral ward of the City of Cambridge and a ward of South Cambridgeshire District Council. The 2011 Census recorded the ward's population as 8,034. Th ...
Extension Cemetery, Cambridge with her father. Her mother, Maud, Lady Darwin, was cremated at Cambridge Crematorium on 10 February 1947. There is a memorial to Raverat in
Harlton Harlton is a village and civil parish in Cambridgeshire in the United Kingdom. The village is south-west of Cambridge and neighbours Haslingfield. History The parish of Harlton covers an area of . Its southern border is marked by the ancient tra ...
Church, Cambridgeshire, where her family and friends donated towards the restoration of the church in her memory. Cambridge and the people associated with it remained very much the centre of her life.
Darwin College, Cambridge Darwin College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded on 28 July 1964, Darwin was Cambridge University's first graduate-only college, and also the first to admit both men and women. The college is named after one of the ...
, occupies both her childhood home, Newnham Grange, and the neighbouring Old Granary where she lived from 1946 until her death. The college has named one of its student accommodation houses after her.


Wood engravings

Raverat was one of the first wood engravers recognised as modern. She went to the
Slade School The UCL Slade School of Fine Art (informally The Slade) is the art school of University College London (UCL) and is based in London, England. It has been ranked as the UK's top art and design educational institution. The school is organised as ...
in 1908,Reynolds Stone, ''The Wood Engravings of Gwen Raverat'' (London, Faber & Faber, 1959). but stood outside the groups growing up at the time, the group that gathered around
Eric Gill Arthur Eric Rowton Gill, (22 February 1882 – 17 November 1940) was an English sculptor, letter cutter, typeface designer, and printmaker. Although the ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' describes Gill as ″the greatest artist-cra ...
at
Ditchling Ditchling is a village and civil parish in the Lewes District of East Sussex, England. The village is contained within the boundaries of the South Downs National Park; the order confirming the establishment of the park was signed in Ditchling. ...
and the group that grew up at the
Central School of Arts and Crafts The Central School of Art and Design was a public school of fine and applied arts in London, England. It offered foundation and degree level courses. It was established in 1896 by the London County Council as the Central School of Arts and Cr ...
around
Noel Rooke Noel Rooke (1881–1953) was a British wood-engraver and artist. His ideas and teaching made a major contribution to the revival of British wood-engraving in the twentieth century. Biography Rooke was born in Acton, London and he would remain in ...
. She was influenced by the
Impressionists Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating ...
and
Post-Impressionists Post-Impressionism (also spelled Postimpressionism) was a predominantly French art movement that developed roughly between 1886 and 1905, from the last Impressionist exhibition to the birth of Fauvism. Post-Impressionism emerged as a reaction aga ...
and developed her own painterly style of engraving.Joanna Selborne, ''British Wood-engraved Book Illustration 1904–1940'' (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1998), . There was some similarity between her early engravings and those of Gill, and she did know Gill, but the similarity was based mostly on her black line style at the time, influenced by
Lucien Pissarro Lucien Pissarro (20 February 1863 – 10 July 1944) was a landscape painter, printmaker, wood engraver and designer and printer of fine books. His landscape paintings employ techniques of Impressionism and Neo-Impressionism, but he also exhib ...
, and the semi-religious themes that she then chose. One of her first wood engravings to appear in a book was "Lord Thomas and Fair Annet" in ''The Open Window'' (1911), which also featured a wood engraving by Noel Rooke. Balston credits her with having produced one of the first two books illustrated with modern wood engravings. This was ''Spring Morning'' by her cousin Frances Cornford, published by the
Poetry Bookshop The Poetry Bookshop operated at 35 Devonshire Street (now Boswell Street) in the Bloomsbury district of central London, from 1913 to 1926. It was the brainchild of Harold Monro, and was supported by his moderate income.Joy Grant, ''Harold Monro a ...
in 1915. It was accessioned at the
British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
Library in May 1915, which makes it the first modern British book illustrated with wood engravings, as the other contender, ''The Devil's Devices'' illustrated by Eric Gill, was accessioned in December 1915. In 1922 she contributed two wood engravings to ''Contemporary English Woodcuts'', an anthology of wood engravings produced by Thomas Balston, a director at
Duckworth Duckworth may refer to: * Duckworth (surname), people with the surname ''Duckworth'' * Duckworth (''DuckTales''), fictional butler from the television series ''DuckTales'' * Duckworth Books, a British publishing house * , a frigate * Duckworth, W ...
and an enthusiast for the new style of wood engravings.
Campbell Dodgson Campbell Dodgson, CBE DLitt Hon RE (13 August 1867 – 11 July 1948) was a British art historian and museum curator. He was the Keeper of Prints and Drawings at the British Museum in 1912–32. Biography Student Campbell Dodgson was the eighth ...
, Keeper of Prints and Drawings at the British Museum, wrote about her in his introduction to the book: ''Mr. Greenwood excels in the delicate and minute work in white line upon black, which has also won the admiration of many collectors for the earlier wood engravings of Mrs. Raverat''. Much of Raverat's work was for friends from Cambridge and appeared in books with small editions. She found a wider public with the
London Mercury ''The London Mercury'' was the name of several periodicals published in London from the 17th to the 20th centuries. The earliest was a newspaper that appeared during the Exclusion Bill crisis; it lasted only 56 issues (1682). (Earlier periodicals ...
which reproduced many of her engravings. The most famous are perhaps the engravings ''Six Rivers Round London'' which were produced for the
London General Omnibus Company The London General Omnibus Company or LGOC, was the principal bus operator in London between 1855 and 1933. It was also, for a short period between 1909 and 1912, a motor bus manufacturer. Overview The London General Omnibus Company was fou ...
. Most of Raverat's commissions for book illustrations date from the 1930s. The first was for a set of engravings for Kenneth Grahame's classic anthology ''The Cambridge Book of Poetry for Children'' (1932). This was published by the
Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII of England, King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press A university press is an academic publishing hou ...
and printed at the press by Walter Lewis. The Cambridge University Press took almost as much care with their printing as a
private press Private press publishing, with respect to books, is an endeavor performed by craft-based expert or aspiring artisans, either amateur or professional, who, among other things, print and build books, typically by hand, with emphasis on design, gra ...
, and Lewis printed the wood engravings from the original blocks. He printed four more books for Raverat – ''Mountains and Molehills'' by Frances Cornford (1934), ''Four Tales from Hans Andersen'', a new version by R. P. Keigwin (1935), ''The Runaway'' by Elizabeth A. Hart (1936) and ''The Bird Talisman'' by H. A. Wedgwood (her great-uncle) (1939). ''Four Tales'' and ''The Bird Talisman'' were illustrated with colour wood engravings. Brooke Crutchley, Lewis's successor at the press, was responsible for printing the collection of Raverat's work by
Reynolds Stone Alan Reynolds Stone, CBE, RDI (13 March 1909 – 23 June 1979) was an English wood engraver, engraver, designer, typographer and painter. Biography Stone was born on 13 March 1909 at Eton College, where both his grandfather, E. D. Stone, and fa ...
and described the care taken over printing from old warped blocks. Her experience of a real private press, St John Hornby's Ashendene Press, was rather more mixed. Raverat spent a year producing 29 wood engravings for an edition of '' Les Amours de Daphne et Chloe'' by
Longus Longus, sometimes Longos ( el, Λόγγος), was the author of an ancient Greek novel or romance, ''Daphnis and Chloe''. Nothing is known of his life; it is assumed that he lived on the isle of Lesbos (setting for ''Daphnis and Chloe'') during ...
. It appeared in 1933, five years after the project started. The first edition had been printed on Japanese vellum, but was scrapped when the ink failed to dry properly. In 1934 she produced a set of engravings for ''Farmer's Glory'' by
A. G. Street Arthur George Street (7 April 1892 – 21 July 1966), who wrote under the name of A. G. Street, was an England, English farmer, writer and broadcaster. His books were published by the literary publishing house of Faber and Faber. His best-known bo ...
(1934), perhaps her best known work. ''Cottage Angles'' by Norah C. James (1935) reused engravings produced for ''Time and Tide''. She illustrated ''A Sentimental Journey'' by
Laurence Sterne Laurence Sterne (24 November 1713 – 18 March 1768), was an Anglo-Irish novelist and Anglican cleric who wrote the novels ''The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman'' and ''A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy'', published ...
for Penguin Illustrated Classics in 1938. Her final wood engravings were for another private press, the
Dropmore Press The Dropmore Press was a British private press founded in 1945 by the newspaper-owner Gomer Berry, 1st Viscount Kemsley. Kemsley acquired the type, paper-stock, printing equipment and press-man of the Corvinus Press, which closed in 1945, followi ...
, for which she illustrated ''London Bookbinders 1780–1806'' by E. Howe (1950). She illustrated a number of books with
line drawings Line most often refers to: * Line (geometry), object with zero thickness and curvature that stretches to infinity * Telephone line, a single-user circuit on a telephone communication system Line, lines, The Line, or LINE may also refer to: Arts ...
, including ''Over The Garden Wall'' by
Eleanor Farjeon Eleanor Farjeon (13 February 1881 – 5 June 1965) was an English author of children's stories and plays, poetry, biography, history and satire. Several of her works had illustrations by Edward Ardizzone. Some of her correspondence has also be ...
(1933), ''Mustard, Pepper and Salt'' by Alison Uttley (1938), ''Red-Letter Holiday'' by Virginia Pye (1940), ''Crossings'' by
Walter de la Mare Walter John de la Mare (; 25 April 1873 – 22 June 1956) was an English poet, short story writer, and novelist. He is probably best remembered for his works for children, for his poem "The Listeners", and for a highly acclaimed selection of ...
(1942), ''Countess Kate'' by
Charlotte M. Yonge Charlotte Mary Yonge (1823–1901) was an English novelist, who wrote in the service of the church. Her abundant books helped to spread the influence of the Oxford Movement and show her keen interest in matters of public health and sanitation. ...
(1948) and ''The Bedside Barsetshire'' by L. O. Tingay (1949).L. M. Newman and D. A. Steel, ''Gwen and Jacques Raverat'' (Lancaster, University of Lancaster, 1989); Raverat played a significant part in the wood engraving revival in Britain at the beginning of the twentieth century. By 1914 she had completed some sixty wood engravings, far more than any of her contemporaries. Her name recurs consistently in all contemporary reviews, and the first book devoted to a modern wood engraver was Herbert Furst's ''Gwendolen Raverat''. She illustrated the first book illustrated with modern wood engravings, ''Spring Morning'', and she exhibited at every annual exhibition of the Society of Wood Engravers between 1920 and 1940, exhibiting 122 engravings, more than anyone else. Raverat had to give up wood engraving after a
stroke A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functionin ...
in 1951. Raverat's work was part of the painting event in the art competition at the
1948 Summer Olympics The 1948 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XIV Olympiad and also known as London 1948) were an international multi-sport event held from 29 July to 14 August 1948 in London, England, United Kingdom. Following a twelve-year hiatus ca ...
. Examples of her work were included in ‘Print and Prejudice: Women Printmakers, 1700-1930’, an exhibition at the
Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...
in London, 2022-23.


Raverat and Cambridge

Apart from her studies at the Slade and the period from 1915 to 1928, which covered her life with Jacques and early widowhood, Raverat lived in or near Cambridge. In 1928 she moved into the Old Rectory,
Harlton Harlton is a village and civil parish in Cambridgeshire in the United Kingdom. The village is south-west of Cambridge and neighbours Haslingfield. History The parish of Harlton covers an area of . Its southern border is marked by the ancient tra ...
, near Cambridge. The house was the model for her engravings for ''The Runaway''. In 1946 she moved into The Old Granary,
Silver Street ''Silver Street'' is a radio soap opera broadcast on the BBC Asian Network from 24 May 2004 to 26 March 2010. It was the first soap to be aimed at the British South Asian community, Broadcast history It was introduced in 2004 as part of the S ...
, in Cambridge; the house was at the end of the garden of Newnham Grange, where she was born. Her life revolved around her contacts in Cambridge. One aspect was her work for the theatre, designing costumes, scenery and programmes. Her first experience was in 1908, when she designed costumes for '' Milton's'' ''
Comus In Greek mythology, Comus (; grc, Κῶμος, ''Kōmos'') is the god of festivity, revels and nocturnal dalliances. He is a son and a cup-bearer of the god Dionysus. He was represented as a winged youth or a child-like satyr and represents ana ...
'' at the New Theatre, Cambridge. Her brother-in-law
Geoffrey Keynes Sir Geoffrey Langdon Keynes ( ; 25 March 1887, Cambridge – 5 July 1982, Cambridge) was a British surgeon and author. He began his career as a physician in World War I, before becoming a doctor at St Bartholomew's Hospital in London, where h ...
asked her to provide scenery and costumes for a proposed ballet drawn from '' Illustrations of the Book of Job'' to commemorate the centennial of Blake's death; her second cousin,
Ralph Vaughan Williams Ralph Vaughan Williams, (; 12 October 1872– 26 August 1958) was an English composer. His works include operas, ballets, chamber music, secular and religious vocal pieces and orchestral compositions including nine symphonies, written over ...
, wrote the music to the work which became known as '' Job, a masque for dancing'', the premiere of which took place in Cambridge in 1931. The miniature stage set that she built as a model still exists, housed at the
Fitzwilliam Museum The Fitzwilliam Museum is the art and antiquities museum of the University of Cambridge. It is located on Trumpington Street opposite Fitzwilliam Street in central Cambridge. It was founded in 1816 under the will of Richard FitzWilliam, 7th Vis ...
in Cambridge. She went on to design costumes, scenery and programmes for some ten productions, mostly for the
Cambridge University Musical Society The Cambridge University Musical Society (CUMS) is a federation of the university's main orchestral and choral ensembles, which cumulatively put on a substantial concert season during the university term. Background Music has a long history at Cam ...
. Raverat met one of her close friends
Elisabeth Vellacott Elisabeth Jessie Vellacott (28 January 1905 – 21 May 2002) was an English painter working on figures and narrative landscapes. In her later work she often painted on wooden board rather than canvas and she had her first solo exhibition at the ...
, in the society's production of Handel's oratorio " Jephta". Raverat had a keen interest in children's fiction. Three of her books were Victorian stories that she persuaded publishers to reprint – ''The Runaway'', ''The Bird Talisman'' and ''Countess Kate''. When she discovered that ''The Runaway'' had gone out of print, she persuaded the publisher
Duckworth Duckworth may refer to: * Duckworth (surname), people with the surname ''Duckworth'' * Duckworth (''DuckTales''), fictional butler from the television series ''DuckTales'' * Duckworth Books, a British publishing house * , a frigate * Duckworth, W ...
to reissue it in 1953.


''Period Piece''

When she was 62 Raverat started to write her classic childhood memoir ''
Period Piece A historical drama (also period drama, costume drama, and period piece) is a work set in a past time period, usually used in the context of film and television. Historical drama includes historical fiction and romances, adventure films, and swas ...
'', which she illustrated with line drawings. It appeared in 1952 and has not been out of print since then.William Pryor, ''Virginia Woolf & the Raverats: a different sort of friendship'' (Bath, Clear Books, 2003), .


Memberships

Gwen Raverat was a founding member of the
Society of Wood Engravers The Society of Wood Engravers (SWE) is a UK-based artists’ exhibiting society, formed in 1920, one of its founder-members being Eric Gill. It was originally restricted to artist-engravers printing with oil-based inks in a press, distinct from ...
, which held an annual exhibition that included works from other artists such as David Jones, John Nash, Paul Nash,
Paul Gauguin Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin (, ; ; 7 June 1848 – 8 May 1903) was a French Post-Impressionist artist. Unappreciated until after his death, Gauguin is now recognized for his experimental use of colour and Synthetist style that were distinct fr ...
and Clare Leighton.”SWE." ''SWE , Cornwall artists index''. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Mar. 2017.


Publications on Raverat

There are two published collections of Raverat's work. The first, by Reynolds Stone, presents many of her engravings printed from Raverat's original blocks; the second, by Joanna Selborne and Lindsay Newman, presents some 75 engravings printed from the blocks, and has long listings of Raverat's work. (The second editions of these books are not printed from the original blocks.) The catalogue of the 1989 exhibition at Lancaster University includes a useful bibliography. Raverat's grandson, William Pryor, has edited and published the complete correspondence between Gwen, Jacques, and
Virginia Woolf Adeline Virginia Woolf (; ; 25 January 1882 28 March 1941) was an English writer, considered one of the most important modernist 20th-century authors and a pioneer in the use of stream of consciousness as a narrative device. Woolf was born i ...
. Pryor has also blogged a talk on Raverat. * (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Silent Books. 1989. . * (2nd ed.) London: British Library. 2003. * * * * (2nd ed.). London: Pimlico. 2004.


See also

*
List of Bloomsbury Group people This is a list of people associated with the Bloomsbury Group. Much about the group is controversial, including its membership: it has been said that "the three words 'the Bloomsbury group' have been so much used as to have become almost unusable" ...


References


External links

*
The Gwen Raverat Archive
(raverat.com) – gallery and sales, "temporarily closed" December 2022
Guide to collection of Raverat papers
at the British National Archives * {{DEFAULTSORT:Raverat, Gwen 1885 births 1957 deaths 20th-century British printmakers 20th-century British women artists 20th-century British women writers 20th-century English women 20th-century English writers Alumni of the Slade School of Fine Art Artists from Cambridge British women illustrators Burials in Cambridgeshire Darwin–Wedgwood family English autobiographers English illustrators English women artists English wood engravers Modern printmakers Olympic competitors in art competitions Women autobiographers Women engravers 20th-century engravers