HE has been unheralded for decades and after his premature death fell into obscurity.

But now the rediscovery... The rediscovery of Sussex-born Eric Ravilious is pulling in crowds and wowing critics at the Dulwich Picture Gallery in London.

The former Eastbourne Grammar School student was known for his wood engraving and designing – particularly his work for Wedgwood – but he saw painting as his true vocation.

He was largely responsible for the revival of English watercolour painting in the 20th century and he was described more recently as the Seurat of Sussex, in a nod to the French post-Impressionist painter.

The 80 paintings on display include famous works Train Landscape and Westbury Horse as well as rarely seen works from private collections. Some are on loan from the Towner Gallery in College Road, Eastbourne, and paintings of Litlington circa 1920, Newhaven Harbour in 1937, and Rye Harbour in 1938, form part of the display.

The images are thought to be inspired by Alfred Hitchcock films, rarely containing figures and instead depicting shadowy interiors to create a human presence.

Ravilious and his family moved to Eastbourne shortly after he was born in 1903 and his parents opened an antique shop.

In 1919, after studying at the grammar school, he won a scholarship to Eastbourne School of Art – where he later returned to teach part-time – and later gained a place at the Design School at the Royal College of Art. It was there he studied under surrealist and war artist Paul Nash.

At the outbreak of the Second World War Ravilious was appointed as one of the first official war artists for the Royal Navy.

In 1942 he travelled to RAF Kaldadarnes in Reykjavík, Iceland but on September 1, a Lockheed Hudson aircraft failed to return from a patrol.

The next morning three planes were despatched to search for the missing plane and Ravilious opted to join one of the crews.

The plane he was on also failed to return and after four days of further searching, the RAF declared Ravilious and the four-man crew lost in action. His body was not recovered and he is commemorated on the Chatham Naval Memorial.

The exhibition is open until August 31.

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“This exhibition has given me the opportunity to look more closely at familiar paintings, and to explore others for the first time.

“I love Ravilious’s playfulness, and the subtle, surreptitious use of distorted geometries in his paintings, and the fact that he made so little public comment about his own work.

“In some ways this has made my job more difficult, but at the same time it is liberating.

“Anyone can enjoy the work of Eric Ravilious, but there is also plenty there for people who want to go deeper.”

James Russell, curator at the Dulwich Gallery in London and a specialist on Eric Ravilious