I have mentioned this many times before, Eric Ravilious, who was an artist in a hurry, used to replicate his work a great deal for different commissions. And here are a few examples of them. Most artists have themes and motifs in their work, but I don’t think I have come across any other artists who plagiarised themselves to this degree.
Above is a design he made for Wedgwood’s Travel series in 1938, a side plate and as you can see below it was a woodcut from The Hansom Cab and the Pigeons (1935) a book he illustrated by L. A. G. Strong.
Another fine example is also from a book, Martin Armstrong’s Fifty-Four Conceits (1933) illustrated by Eric Ravilious of an biplane flying.
Below you can see the same image used for the Wedgwood Travel series, with clouds added because the transphers Wedgwood used couldn’t process black areas very well, even with halftone details. The same illustration was used for the Thomas Hennell’s book. Poems (1936).
The woodcut above is one of the many designs Ravilious made for the Kynoch Press Notebook (1933). The three trees in the pond appear again here, with the snow falling in this design for the 1938 Wedgewood Travel series plate.
Above is a watercolour that has been turned into a wood-engraving before for the London Transport walk books. The cows are thought to have been from Great Bardfield Hall and the farm connected on the side. You can also see he has copied the same cow twice but painted it in a different colour.
Here you can see a mirror image of this Wedgwood design and the train in the plate. It is thought he copied his wood-engraving design, and when it was printed by Wedgwood the transfer made the design reverse.
Though not a copy of his own work, it is an inspiration from his home. Ravilious had this print of a Race on the Mississippi above the fireplace in his living room, and I always believed this to be the inspiration of the boat design in the plate above, without the paddle engine to make it look more European.
