Shelling by night 1941

Eric Ravilious made this watercolour called 'Shelling by night', and the first thing that strikes you is the textural treatment of light and shadow across the landscape. The marks are like a dance, aren't they? Look at how Ravilious uses the thin, translucent washes to build up the atmosphere, almost like he's caressing the paper with the brush. See how he scratches into the surface, especially in the foreground hills, creating these tiny lines that give the impression of texture. It reminds me of Agnes Martin's delicate grids, but here, it's used to capture the ruggedness of the landscape. That explosion in the sky; a burst of light that threatens to engulf the scene. It's beautiful and terrifying at the same time. Ravilious seems to be in conversation with artists like Paul Nash, who were also grappling with the visual language of war. It's a reminder that art isn't just about what we see, but how we feel, how we process the world around us.