James Ravilious

James Ravilious (22 August 1939 – 29 September 1999), was an English photographer.

Ravilious was born in Eastbourne, the second son of the neo-romantic artist Eric Ravilious and his wife, the artist Tirzah Garwood, and educated at Bedford School.

Having studied as an accountant, Ravilious made a career change and entered St Martin's School of Art in London, under the assumed name of Souryer in 1959. He subsequently worked as a teacher at Hammersmith College for seven years.

In 1970 James married Caroline (known as Robin) Whistler, daughter of glass-engraver and poet Laurence Whistler. They had two children.

Inspired by an exhibition of the work of French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson, Ravilious took up photography shortly after moving with his wife to Devon in the 1970s. He was asked to contribute work to the Beaford Archive, a means of documenting images to show the lifestyle associated with a small area of North Devon. What began as a short-term project turned into a 17-year quest. Ravilious made some 80,000 black and white images for Beaford Arts, and preserved some 5,000 old photographs of the area. The archive is an internationally important collection.

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