Art of the Chalk Downs

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 emplacements and crashed aeroplanes.

Art of the Chalk Downs investigates this extraordinary collision of ancient and modern, idea and place, and the network of artists who worked and lived there. Seventy-five plates of paintings, watercolours, prints and photographs are accompanied by texts written by leading art historians James Russell and Stephens.

James Russell is an art historian and exhibition curator, most recently of Tirzah Garwood: Beyond Ravilious at Dulwich Picture Gallery, and Undersea at Hastings Contemporary. His many previous exhibitions include Changing Times: A Century of Modern British Art at the Higgins, Bedford, Extraordinary Everyday: The Art and Design of Eric Ravilious, and Eric Ravilious: Downland Man. Russell’s books include titles on Ravilious, Paul Nash, Edward Seago and Edward Bawden. Chris Stephens, Director of the Holburne, has written extensively on modern British art, especially the St Ives painters, Francis Bacon and David Hockney.