"A trove of original wood blocks hand-carved by the painter and printmaker Eric Ravilious and his artist wife Tirzah Garwood has been rescued from eBay thanks to an alliance between the artists' heirs and the Art Loss Register (ALR). The collection of 27 blocks, made between 1930-1950, first appeared on the online marketplace last summer, sparking a rush of interest from Ravilious watchers including the pair's daughter and granddaughter, Anne Ullman and the curator Ella Ravilious, author of Ravilious: Landscapes and Nature."
"Once alerted to the eBay listing, the family contacted the Art Loss Register (ALR) to add the blocks to its database. The popularity and prices of works by Ravilious, who was the first British artist to die in active service during the Second World War, have been rising in recent years, while Garwood was the subject of a recent solo show at Dulwich Picture Gallery."
"ALR's Antonia Kimbell who worked on the recovery, tells The Art Newspaper that having a listing on the database meant the sale could be halted and "is a very effective method of getting the seller to come to the table". Now catalogued, the blocks have been entrusted to the two galleries best known for their holdings of Ravilious and Garwood-The Fry Art Gallery in Suffolk and Towner Eastbourne, in the coastal town where Ravilious attended art school."
Twenty-seven hand-carved wood blocks by Eric Ravilious and Tirzah Garwood, created between 1930 and 1950, were rediscovered after appearing on eBay. The works had been believed missing or stolen since the 1950s and may have been lent to a publisher and later ended up in a charity shop. Family members including daughter Anne Ullman and granddaughter Ella Ravilious alerted the Art Loss Register, which added the blocks to its database and helped halt the sale. The blocks have been catalogued and entrusted to The Fry Art Gallery in Suffolk and Towner Eastbourne; thirteen will go on display when The Fry reopens next April.
Read at The Art Newspaper - International art news and events
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