To be held on 17 June 2026
The name of Eric Ravilious has become familiar over the past decade, but few people are aware that his wife, Tirzah Garwood (1908-51), was a talented and original artist in her own right. A witty observer of the human condition, the youthful Garwood became established as a wood engraver of rare ability. After marrying Ravilious and becoming a devoted mother to three children, she took up paper marbling, quickly achieving renown for the dazzling originality of her decorative papers. In her early 30s she suffered the double blow of a grave breast cancer diagnosis and her husband’s death on active service in World War 2. Undaunted, she remarried and took up oil painting, producing in a few short years a series of strange, beautiful paintings.
James Russell
Having studied History at Pembroke College, Cambridge, James Russell enjoyed a lengthy stint selling contemporary paintings and sculpture in Santa Fe, New Mexico, an experience that inspired him to begin writing and lecturing on 20th century art. Of his dozen or so books, one was a Sunday Times book of the year, while his writing has been described by critics as ‘insightful’, ‘informative’ and ‘enjoyably readable’. Having first become fascinated by Tirzah Garwood twenty years ago he curated the recent exhibition ‘Tirzah Garwood: Beyond Ravilious’. It ran at Dulwich Picture Gallery from November 2024 to May 2025 and was the first major exhibition of her work since her Memorial Exhibition in 1952. James Russell’s previous exhibitions include Eric Ravilious (2015) and Edward Bawden (2018), both at Dulwich.