Bawden, Edward (1903-1989)

English printmaker, graphic designer, illustrator and painter. He studied at the School of Art in Cambridge (1918–22) and at the Design School of the Royal College of Art (1922–6), where he was a contemporary of Eric Ravilious and was taught by Paul Nash. While still a student he and Ravilious were commissioned by Sir Joseph Duveen to paint a mural at Morley College (destr. 1940; repainted as the Canterbury Tales in 1958), London. After graduating he worked on a large variety of projects for the Curwen Press at Plaistow, London, and subsequently for many other publishers, producing book illustrations and cover designs, posters and advertisements, leaflets and calendars, including commissions for Shell-Mex, Westminster Bank and the London Transport Board.

He held his first one-man show, mainly of landscapes showing the influence of Nash, at the Zwemmer Gallery in London in 1933. During World War II he served as an Official War Artist in the British Army, travelling to Belgium, France and the Middle East and portraying such places as Roman Catholic Church at Addis Ababa (1941; London, Tate). His later work, particularly as a graphic designer, is notable for its simplicity of line and its wit, but he also returned to large-scale mural painting.. He also became well-known for his linocuts, among them Nine London Monuments (Editions Alecto, 1966; see Howes, pp. 96–7) and Six London Markets (Curwen Prints, 1967; see Howes, p. 98).

Bibliography
J. M. Richards: Edward Bawden (Harmondsworth, 1946)
D. P. Bliss: Edward Bawden (Godalming and Toronto, 1979)
J. Howes: Edward Bawden: A Retrospective Survey (Bath, 1988).

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