Free exhibition of watercolours, prints, drawings and ceramics by Eric Ravilious from the Towner collection, alongside work by his peers.
The Ravilious Collection opens at Towner Eastbourne on 15 January 2027 and runs until 21 February. It's a dedicated look at Eric Ravilious (1903-1942), one of Eastbourne's most celebrated artists, and Towner has long held the largest collection of his work. This exhibition brings it all together in a bespoke space at the gallery, making it the most extensive ongoing display of his work anywhere.
What you'll see covers the full breadth of his practice: watercolours, woodblocks, prints, preparatory drawings, publications, and ceramics, alongside the designs he made for Wedgwood. It traces the life of a man who was both a student and a teacher at Eastbourne School of Art and who worked as a war artist during the Second World War, before being declared missing and presumed dead in September 1942. The exhibition doesn't keep him in isolation, either; his work hangs alongside that of his closest friends and peers, including his wife Tirzah Garwood, whom he married in 1930, John Piper (1903-1992), Edward Bawden (1903-1989), and Peggy Angus. They're all tied to the Towner Collection's recurring themes of landscape, place, and home.
One nice addition is the Collection Library, a free, quiet study space built into the gallery itself, with books on Ravilious and other artists from the collection. It's a good spot to sit and read up on the work you've just seen without having to leave the building.
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Entry is free, with a suggested donation of £5. You'll find the exhibition at Towner, Devonshire Park, College Road, BN21 4JJ, Eastbourne, East Sussex, from 15 January to 21 February 2027.
