Graphite and watercolour on paper
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/eric-ravilious-1817" aria-label="More by Eric Ravilious" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Eric Ravilious</a>
Vale White Horse
Purchased 1940
architecture
Berkshire
chalk figure
emotions, concepts and ideas
England
England, South East
England, Southern
hill
history
landscape
monuments
places
rain
Uffington, White Horse
UK cities, towns and villages
UK counties
UK countries and regions
universal concepts
valley
weather
<p>Ravilious saw himself as part of a long tradition of English landscape painters, and his use of flat watercolour recalls the work of John Sell Cotman in the early nineteenth century. However, his pictures often subvert tradition as much as echo it. His depiction of the countryside in the rain is familiar, but the low viewpoint makes the image disconcerting. This emphasises the mass of the hill and provides an unusual view of the White Horse cut into the chalk at Uffington in Berkshire, one of Britain’s most ancient sites. It was, perhaps, the surprisingly abstract depiction of the White Horse that attracted modern artists.</p><p><em>Gallery label, September 2004</em></p>
paper unique graphite watercolour
23 October 2003 – 25 January 2004
2004-01-25
23 October 2003 – 25 January 2004
2004-01-25
2003-10-23
Imperial War Museum (London, UK)
http://www.iwm.org.uk/
2003-10-23
Eric Ravilious: Imagined Realities
Loan-out
15 June 2005 – 4 September 2005
2005-09-04
15 June 2005 – 4 September 2005
2005-09-04
2005-06-15
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2005-06-15
A Picture of Britain
Exhibition
23 January 2010 – 21 March 2010
2010-03-21
23 January 2010 – 21 March 2010
2010-03-21
2010-01-23
Towner (Eastbourne, UK)
http://www.townereastbourne.org.uk/
2010-01-23
Dark Monarch; Magic and Modernity in British Art
Loan-out
16 February 2011 – 21 August 2011
2011-08-21
16 February 2011 – 21 August 2011
2011-08-21
2011-02-16
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2011-02-16
Watercolour
Exhibition
26 March 2015 – 27 May 2020
2020-05-27
26 March 2015 – 21 June 2015
2015-06-21
2015-03-26
Museo Nacional de Arte (Mexico City, Mexico)
18 July 2015 – 18 October 2015
2015-10-18
2015-07-18
Pinacoteca do Estado (São Paulo, Brazil)
27 April 2018 – 5 August 2018
2018-08-05
2018-04-27
Shanghai Art Museum (Shanghai, China)
4 September 2018 – 13 November 2018
2018-11-13
2018-09-04
National Art Museum of China (Beijing, China)
27 November 2019 – 27 May 2020
2020-05-27
2019-11-27
Hong Kong Museum of Art (Hong Kong, China)
2015-03-26
British Landscape
Tate partnerships & programmes
1 April 2017 – 30 September 2017
2017-09-30
1 April 2017 – 30 September 2017
2017-09-30
2017-04-01
The Salisbury Museum (Salisbury, UK)
http://www.salisburymuseum.org.uk
2017-04-01
Art and Archaeology: Artistic responses to the prehistoric landscape, c.1780 -2015
Loan-out
25 September 2021 – 30 January 2022
2022-01-30
25 September 2021 – 30 January 2022
2022-01-30
2021-09-25
Wiltshire Museum (Devizes, UK)
2021-09-25
Eric Ravilious: Downland Man
Loan-out
5 May 2022 – 4 September 2022
2022-09-04
5 May 2022 – 4 September 2022
2022-09-04
2022-05-05
Tate Liverpool (Liverpool, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/liverpool/
1 October 2022 – 22 January 2023
2023-01-22
2022-10-01
Mead Gallery (Coventry, UK)
http://www.warwickartscentre.co.uk
2022-05-05
Radical Landscapes
Exhibition
7 October 2022 – 18 February 2024
2024-02-18
7 October 2022 – 18 December 2022
2022-12-18
2022-10-07
Mead Gallery (Coventry, UK)
http://www.warwickartscentre.co.uk
6 February 2023 – 30 April 2023
2023-04-30
2023-02-06
Art Explora (Liverpool, UK)
2022-10-07
Radical Landscapes
Loan-out
The Vale of the White Horse
support: 451 × 324 mm
frame: 587 × 690 × 50 mm
Purchased 1940
<div class="para3">
<span class="text7">Ravilious saw himself as part of a long tradition of      English <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/l/landscape" title="Glossary definition for 'Landscape'"><span>landscape</span></a> painters, and his use of flat <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/w/watercolour" title="Glossary definition for 'Watercolour'"><span>watercolour</span></a> recalls the      work of John Sell Cotman in the early nineteenth century. However, his      pictures often subvert tradition as much as echo it. His depiction of the      countryside in the </span><span class="text6">rain is familiar, but the low      viewpoint makes the image disconcerting. This emphasises the mass of the      hill and provides an unusual view of the White Horse cut into the chalk at      Uffington in Berkshire, one of Britain’s most ancient sites. It was,      perhaps, the surprisingly <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/a/abstract-art" title="Glossary definition for 'Abstract art'"><span>abstract</span></a> depiction of the White Horse  that      attracted modern artists.  </span>
</div>

Display caption
2004-09-09T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
<p><b>N05164</b> THE VALE OF THE WHITE HORSE <i>c</i>. 1939</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Inscr. ‘Eric Ravilious’ t.r.
<br/>Watercolour, 17 3/4×21 3/4 (45×55·3).
<br/>Purchased from the artist through the Leicester Galleries (Knapping Fund) 1940.
<br/><i>Exh:</i> Eastbourne and Brighton, 1948 (35); Arts Council, 1948–9 (49); Sheffield, 1958 (16).</p>
<p>This appears to be the White Horse on White Horse Hill, Uffington, Berkshire. The current view is that it was probably made as a tribal emblem towards the end of the first century B.C. or the earliest part of the first century A.D. The design resembles the animal figures of Iron Age times and similar horses are to be found on coins of British tribes of that date, including the Atrebates of Berkshire.</p>
<p>There is a <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/w/watercolour" title="Glossary definition for 'Watercolour'"><span>watercolour</span></a> by the artist of the chalk horse and rider at Weymouth in the Massey Collection, National Gallery of Canada.</p>
<p><b>Published in:</b>
<br/>Mary Chamot, Dennis Farr and Martin Butlin, <i>The Modern British Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture</i>, London 1964, II
<br/></p>

Catalogue entry
2004-10-07T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
architecture Berkshire chalk figure emotions, concepts and ideas England England, South East England, Southern hill history landscape monuments places rain Uffington, White Horse UK cities, towns and villages UK counties UK countries and regions universal concepts valley weather