Gwen Raverat was born in Cambridge, granddaughter of Charles Darwin. She was mainly a self taught engraver; but later studied painting at the Slade School of Fine Arts, London and at the Sorbonne where she met, and married, the artist Jacques Pierre Raverat. They remained in France until his premature death in 1925 when she returned to Cambridge. She had complete confidence in engraving as her chosen medium which made her work, although small in size, completely resolved. She contributed illustrations to the Penguin Illustrated Classics series and to her own biography Period Piece, published in 1952. She made few coloured prints and a half a dozen lithographs printed in small editions.

Out of the Wood British Woodcuts and Wood Engravings 1890-1945, The British Council 1991

 

Glossary

  • Engraving

    An intaglio process whereby lines are cut into a metal or wood plate using an engraving tool (a burin), which is pushed in front of the hand to achieve a sharp controlled incision capable of great delicacy. This technique requires a great deal of control and is not suited to spontaneous mark-making.

  • Medium

    Refers to either the material used to create a work of art, craft or design, i.e. oil, bronze, earthenware, silk; or the technique employed i.e. collage, etching, carving. In painting the medium refers to the binder for the pigment, e.g. oil, egg, acrylic dispersion. The plural form is media.

  • Painting

    Work of art made with paint on a surface. Often the surface, also called a support, is a tightly stretched piece of canvas, paper or a wooden panel. Painting involves a wide range of techniques and materials, along with the artist's intellectual concerns effecting the content of a work.