James Ravilious (22 August 1939 – 29 September 1999), was an English photographer, who specialised in recording the rural life of north Devon.

Early life

Ravilious was born in

Eastbourne Eastbourne () is a town and seaside resort in East Sussex, on the south coast of England, east of Brighton and south of London. Eastbourne is immediately east of Beachy Head, the highest chalk sea cliff in Great Britain and part of the la ...

, the second son of the neo-romantic artist

Eric Ravilious Eric William Ravilious (22 July 1903 – 2 September 1942) was a British painter, designer, book illustrator and wood-engraver. He grew up in Sussex, and is particularly known for his watercolours of the South Downs and other English landsca ...

and his wife, the artist

Tirzah Garwood Eileen Lucy "Tirzah" Garwood (11 April 1908 – 27 March 1951) was a British artist and engraver, a member of the Great Bardfield Artists. The artist Eric Ravilious was her husband from 1930 until his death in 1942. Early life Garwood was bo ...

, and educated at

Bedford School :''Bedford School is not to be confused with Bedford Girls' School, Bedford High School, Bedford Modern School, Old Bedford School in Bedford, Texas or Bedford Academy in Bedford, Nova Scotia.'' Bedford School is a public school (English indep ...

. Having studied as an accountant, Ravilious made a career change and entered

St Martin's School of Art Saint Martin's School of Art was an art school, art college in London, England. It offered foundation and degree level courses. It was established in 1854, initially under the aegis of the church of St Martin-in-the-Fields. Saint Martin's beca ...

in London, under the assumed name of Souryer in 1959. He subsequently worked as a teacher at Hammersmith College for seven years. In 1970 James married Caroline (known as Robin) Whistler, daughter of glass-engraver and poet

Laurence Whistler Sir Alan Charles Laurence Whistler (21 January 1912 – 19 December 2000) was a British glass engraver and poet. He was both the first President of the British Guild of Glass Engravers and the first recipient of the King's Gold Medal for Po ...

. They had two children.

Photography

Inspired by an exhibition of the work of French photographer

Henri Cartier-Bresson Henri Cartier-Bresson (; 22 August 1908 – 3 August 2004) was a French humanist photographer considered a master of candid photography, and an early user of 35mm film. He pioneered the genre of street photography, and viewed photography as cap ...

, Ravilious took up photography shortly after moving with his wife to Devon in the 1970s. He was asked to contribute work to the Beaford Archive, a means of documenting images to show the lifestyle associated with a small area of North Devon. What began as a short-term project turned into a 17-year quest. Ravilious made some 80,000 black and white images for Beaford Arts, and preserved some 5,000 old photographs of the area. The archive is an internationally important collection. An exhibition of his work ''The English Countryside'' was shown at

Royal Photographic Society The Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain, commonly known as the Royal Photographic Society (RPS), is one of the world's oldest photographic societies. It was founded in London, England, in 1853 as the Photographic Society of London with ...

's Octagon exhibition space between July–September 1981.National Photographic Centre opens in Britain , https://www.nytimes.com/1981/06/21/travel/national-photographic-center-opens-in-britain.html , Accessed 9 May 2017.

References

External links

jamesravilious.com

by James P. Beacham, ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', 8 October 1999. *
James Ravilious: A World in Photographs
'' 30-minute documentary by Banyak Films 2006
The Beaford Archive
*

: Andrew Dickson interviews

Alan Bennett Alan Bennett (born 9 May 1934) is an English actor, author, playwright and screenwriter. Over his distinguished entertainment career he has received numerous awards and honours including two BAFTA Awards, four Laurence Olivier Awards, and tw ...

on Ravilious's work. ''

'', 15 November 2007. {{DEFAULTSORT:Ravilious, James 1939 births 1999 deaths Photographers from Devon People educated at Bedford School People from Eastbourne

Early life

Photography

References

Further reading

External links