Raverat, Gwen (1885–1957)

British wood engraver and book illustrator. Name variations: Gwen Reverat. Born Gwendolen Mary Darwin in Cambridge, England, in 1885; died in 1957; daughter of Sir George Howard Darwin (1845–1912, a scientist and professor) and Maud Du Puy (1861–1947, an American); granddaughter of Charles Darwin (1809–1882); studied at Slade School, 1908–11; married Jacques Pierre Raverat (a mathematician who became a painter), in 1911 (died 1925); children: two daughters.

Gwen Raverat was born in 1885, the daughter of Maud Du Puy , an American of Huguenot descent, and George Howard Darwin, the second son of Charles Darwin. An eminent scientist in his own right, George was a fellow of Trinity College and elected Plumian Professor of Astronomy in 1883. He married Maud the following year in Erie, Pennsylvania, and they settled into an old refurbished mill house in Cambridge, England, which they called Newnham Grange. Gwen was the first of their four children, and spent her formative years in the small and exclusive society centered at the college. As befitted relatives of the developer of the theory of evolution, her parents encouraged her to think for herself. She detailed the world in which she grew up in her 1952 bestselling memoir, Period Piece: A Cambridge Childhood.

Raverat began her training in drawing as early as age nine, and studied painting at the Slade School from 1908 to 1911. In 1911, she married Jacques Pierre Raverat, a mathematician who became a painter. Their two daughters were born in Britain, and the family then lived in France until 1925, when Jacques died, after which Gwen returned to Cambridge. While she painted, designed for the theater, and also did illustration (including drawings for Spring Morning, a volume of poetry by Frances Cornford , in 1915), she is most known for her wood engravings. Raverat taught herself the art, a rare feat, and was a founding member of the Society of Wood Engravers. Among the enormously successful works which featured her engravings was the Cambridge Book of Poetry for Children (1932). Raverat also designed the sets for Ralph Vaughan Williams' ballet Job, which remained in use for 20 years. From 1928 to 1939, she wrote art criticism for the periodical Time and Tide, and worked for naval intelligence during World War II. She also translated Perrault's fairy tales, which were published posthumously. She died in 1957.

sources:

Grimes, Teresa, Judith Collins, and Oriana Baddeley. Five Women Painters. Lennard, 1989.

Raverat, Gwen. Period Piece: A Cambridge Childhood. Faber, 1952.

Jacqueline Mitchell , freelance writer, Detroit, Michigan