Press Reviews

The Art Newspaper
Andrew Lambirth

A gifted draftsman, watercolorist and designer, Ravilious was much in demand in his lifetime, then went completely out of fashion. His watercolours now command high prices and books about him tend to be costly. It’s thus a relief to find an inexpensive Ravilious publication so beautifully produced. Containing 22 full-page colour plates, the book dwells on Sussex and the South Downs, which remained an inspiration for the artist. James Russell’s writing has the clarity and concision of the paintings, and is both properly informative and enjoyably readable. The reproductions include lesser-known pictures as well as old favourites such as Beachy Head, 1939. The sheer power of Ravilious’ design brings a joyful crispness and snapping energy to his work. Glorious.

The Lady
Hugh St-Clair

Publisher Tim Mainstone has been instrumental in putting the watercolours of Eric Ravilious back on the map with his beautifully designed books with accompanying text. Ravilious in Pictures: A Country Life shows paintings of the countryside around Castle Hedingham in Essex, where Ravilious lived.

Eastern Daily Press
Ian Collins

A lovely and melancholy new volume called Ravilious in Pictures: The War Paintings, with an engaging text by James Russell, is the latest venture by the Mainstone Press of Norfolk and an ideal Christmas gift.

John Piper cover.jpeg

Association of Illustrators
Derek Brazell

Brighton has maintained its reputation as a cool seaside town for a long time, and many of us have an impression of what it looks like, even if we’ve not visited it ourselves. This handsomely bound book reproduces Piper’s original aquatint production, showing how Brighton looked at the end of the 1930s, and Alan Powers’ text reveals how the town may have ended up looking quite different if those who thought that the Regency buildings (an essential part of its current appeal) were looking a bit old fashioned had had their way, and demolished them for new building projects.

The New Statesman:
Michael Prodger

The cult of the painter-designer Eric Ravilious is not of long standing. For decades after his death at 39 in 1942 on war service, his name was kept alive by friends and adherents but flickered only intermittently in the public consciousness. One of the factors in the reappraisal that has taken place over the past 20 years is the handsome stream of books that has emerged from the estimable Mainstone Press, marked by a calibre of design that would have delighted Ravilious himself. This new volume is a compendium of observations by critics, commentators and friends who judged Ravilious’s work as it emerged. Among the 30 or so pieces – both long and short – are his Times obituary; reflections on his lithographs by John Piper; thoughts by Osbert Lancaster on his distinctiveness; reminisces by his lover Helen Binyon and friends such as Peggy Angus and Olive Cook; and essays and prefaces for early exhibitions of his work. Taken together they amount to a poignant tribute, the mood of which was summed up by Noel Carrington: “An artist who dies in his prime is naturally the cause of much grief to his contemporaries for they cannot but think of what is lost to the world.”