Ancient Landscape, Modern Times

Eric Ravilious and the Artists of the Chalk Downs
Ancient Landscape, Modern Times looks at the engagement of modern painters including Paul and John Nash and Eric Ravilious with the chalk downs landscapes of southern England.

In the 1910s and 1920s the unique landscape of the chalk downs of southern England began to exert a new fascination on writers, historians, archaeologists and artists. Modernists such as Paul and John Nash, Eric Ravilious and William Nicholson immersed themselves in exploring these enigmatic, ancient places. The stark, rolling forms of the downs suited the modern aesthetic, offering a place where prehistory and modernity could converge.

With the growing political tensions of the 1930s, this modern engagement with ancient landscape took on a symbolism that still resonates. Images of Britain evolved as the downs became both symbols of wartime vulnerability and resilience and the site of machine gun emplacemen