The work of Eric Ravilious is represented by a single work in the collection- but one often considered to be among the very best of his wartime output.
In February 1940 Ravilious visited the Kent coast, where he encountered the subject of this painting. One of the few war paintings where human activity is central to the picture, it shows a mini-expedition to defuse a German magnetic mine on the oyster beds at Whitstable, only the second to be washed up on English shores.
For this exploit, two naval officers, Commander Obbard and Lieutenant West, were each awarded the Distinguished Service Cross (D.S.C.). The picture was shown at the first War Artist Exhibition, under the title of 'Rendering Mines Safe', later officially changed to 'Dangerous Work at Low Tide'.
Eric Ravilious was among the most foremost of English artists to emerge between the wars. His body of work was wide-ranging and multi-faceted; murals, watercolours, wood engravings, painting, lithographs to ceramic design. His illustrations and designs for Wedgewood still influence a generation of designers today. Ravilious was commissioned as a war artist at the end of 1939.
Assigned to the Admiralty along with John Nash, they were both appointed Captain, Royal Marines. Although he produced an extraordinary body of work he was unable to fulfil this great promise due to his tragic and untimely death while on service as an Official War Artist in 1942 aged 39.