Bibliography - Alan Powers
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Publications

Save St Wilfrid's, Brighton, by Gavin Stamp and Alan Powers, published 1983 (25 pp., Save Britain's Heritage: Thirties Society) accessible at: R.I.B.A. Library

Feibusch Murals, Chichester and Beyond, by Alan Powers, published 1997 (pamphlet) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 13643]

Eric Ravilious: Imagined Realities, by Alan Powers, published 30 May 2012 (reprint, 144 pp., Philip Wilson, ISBN-10: 1781300011 & ISBN-13: 9781781300015) accessible at: West Sussex Libraries
Abstract:
Eric Ravilious (1903-1942) is now firmly one of the most popular artists of his period. Eric Ravilious: Imagined Realities includes illustrations of many previously unpublished paintings, including a number from private collections, as well as surveying his other artistic activities. The text draws on many letters and other documents, again previously unpublished, and is the most comprehensive account of Revilious' career ever published. It also attempts to position Ravilious in relation to English art of his time, and more recent critical and cultural issues.

Eric Ravilious: Artist & Designer, by Alan Powers, published 16 October 2013 (216 pp., Farnham, Surrey: Lund Humphries Publishers Ltd., ISBN-10: 1848221118 & ISBN-13: 9781848221116) accessible at: West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries
Abstract:
More popular than ever, the work of Eric Ravilious (1903-42) is rooted in the landscape of pre-war and early wartime England. This new book by Alan Powers, the established authority on Ravilious, provides the most comprehensive overview to date of the artist's work in all media - watercolour, illustration, printmaking, graphic design, textiles and ceramics - and firmly positions Ravilious as a major figure in the history of early 20th-century British art.In an accessible and engaging text, copiously illustrated with reproductions of work drawn from a range of sources, Alan Powers discusses the part Ravilious' work played in creating an English style, positioned between tradition and modernism, and borrowing from naive and popular art of the past. The book analyses Ravilious' different spheres of activity in turn, covering his education and formative influences, his mural painting, his printmaking and illustration, his work as leader in forming a new style of watercolour painting between the wars and his final period as an official War Artist. In a career curtailed by an early death, Ravilious also played a significant role as a designer; Powers argues that Ravilious showed how decoration and historical reference could find a place in the reform of the applied arts whilst simultaneously renewing a sense of national identity.Eric Ravilious will be welcomed by all those with an interest in an artist whose imagination was backed by great skill and a sharp eye for the unusual.

The art of a good letter, by Alan Powers, published 20 April 2016 in Country Life (vol. 210 no. 16, article, pp.118-119) accessible at: R.I.B.A. Library
Abstract:
Looks at the work of Edward Johnston (1872-1944), creator of the typeface used by London Underground and London Transport, who taught lettering to Eric Gill at the Central School and with whom he worked at Ditchling in East Sussex, amongst a small community of artists and designers. Johnston's work is the subject of an exhibition at Ditchling (March 12-September 11, 2016)

Ravilious & Co: The Pattern of Friendship , by Andy Friend with an introduction by Alan Powers, published 20 April 2017 (336 pp., Thames and Hudson ltd., ISBN-10: 050023955X & ISBN-13: 9780500239551) accessible at: West Sussex Libraries & East Sussex Libraries
Abstract:
In recent years Eric Ravilious has become recognized as one of the most important British artists of the 20th century, whose watercolours and wood engravings capture an essential sense of place and the spirit of mid-century England. What is less appreciated is that he did not work in isolation, but within a much wider network of artists, friends and lovers influenced by Paul Nash's teaching at the Royal College of Art - Edward Bawden, Barnett Freedman, Enid Marx, Tirzah Garwood, Percy Horton, Peggy Angus and Helen Binyon among them. The Ravilious group bridged the gap between fine art and design, and the gentle, locally rooted but spritely character of their work came to be seen as the epitome of contemporary British values. Seventy-five years after Ravilious's untimely death, Andy Friend tells the story of this group of artists from their student days through to the Second World War. Ravilious & Co. explores how they influenced each other and how a shared experience animated their work, revealing the significance in this pattern of friendship of women artists, whose place within the history of British art has often been neglected. Generously illustrated and drawing on extensive research, and a wealth of newly discovered material, Ravilious & Co. is an enthralling narrative of creative achievement, joy and tragedy.