Runway Perspective 1942

Eric Ravilious created this watercolor painting, Runway Perspective, with a distinctive artistic sensibility. Ravilious’s choice of watercolor lends the scene a sense of lightness and atmosphere, fitting for a sky filled with aircraft. His loose brushwork and subtle gradations of tone capture the vastness of the airfield, and the aircrafts overhead. The painting's materiality mirrors the subject matter – the transparency of watercolor echoing the ethereal quality of flight, and the subtle blending of colors suggesting the ever-changing light and weather conditions of the open sky. In terms of social context, Ravilious was commissioned to document wartime activities, but his approach avoids any sense of conflict. Instead, he focuses on the infrastructure and the daily routines of those involved, capturing a sense of quiet observation amidst the chaos of war. Ultimately, Ravilious elevates the ordinary, prompting us to consider the value of the handmade in a world increasingly dominated by mass production and technology.