Holburne explores the chalk downs through Ravilious and his contemporaries
A new exhibition at the Holburne Museum in Bath examines how southern England’s chalk landscapes helped artists rethink landscape painting in the early twentieth century. Eric Ravilious joins William Nicholson, Paul Nash, John Nash, Tirzah Garwood and Peggy Angus in a selection spanning the 1910s to the 1940s.
Developed by writer and curator James Russell, the exhibition brings together paintings, drawings, prints and archival material. Its subject is the meeting of old terrain and modern experience: the Holburne places these artists’ responses to the South Downs and related chalk country within a period of modernisation, political tension and approaching war. Questions of history, identity and belonging underpin the museum’s account of their engagement with the landscape.
‘Ancient Landscape, Modern Times: Eric Ravilious and the Artists of the Chalk Downs’ runs from 3 October 2026 to 10 January 2027. Entry is included in general admission
