I’m back in Bradford now following our three-day visit to the South coast in order to attend the funeral of one of my wife’s family. It was an interesting experience for a variety of reasons. Although I knew the deceased, rather slightly, my part in the occasion was peripheral, and I found myself oscillating between two roles that were not strictly compatible. For a part of the time I slipped into my familiar guise as anthropological field-worker making first contact with a newly-discovered tribe. On other occasions I was the rather backward school-boy who had not done his homework with sufficient care, and as a consequence was trying to keep up an appearance of understanding what was going on while being terrified for most of the time that his ignorance of what everybody else knew would be exposed to public view.
The visit did yield one unexpected pleasure. I was free during yesterday morning, before the funeral, to do my own thing. I knew next to nothing about Eastbourne, but had picked up the fact that the English artist Eric Ravilious was associated with the area, and the civic art gallery (The Towner Gallery) is currently hosting an exhibition devoted specifically to his work as both painter and designer. Although his name was familiar to me I had never previously had the opportunity to see much of his art, and I was pleasantly surprised by the new experience.
His best work was done between the wars (he died in 1942) and he was a contemporary of Paul Nash, whose painting I have long admired. As an interpreter of English landscape (particularly from the south of England) Ravilious’ work merited comparison with that of Nash in interesting ways. He lacked Nash’s sense of symbolism, but certainly shared with him a profound sense of “atmosphere”. I want to find out more, particularly about his experience as an official war artist assigned to the submarine service.
The Towner had three other nice surprises. Two pieces by the Welsh sculptor David Nash were on display, and they also had a wonderful painting by David Jones, whose work has been growing on me for several years now. Finally, the cafe did a very goo doppio macchiato. I wouldn’t mind another visit to Eastbourne, especially since they are planning a solo exhibition of work by Paul Nash in September.