Image credit: Hastings Contemporary
An Eric Ravilious watercolour painting that has been missing for more than 80 years will be on display in Hastings.
In 1939, Eric William Ravilious' painting Mackerel Sky was sold to a private collector for 15 guineas.
The current owner has loaned it to the Hastings Contemporary Art Gallery for a seaside exhibition.
James Russell, curator and art historian, told the BBC that the painting's reappearance was "great news for Ravilious fans".
Mr Russell said in a tweet: "This 1938 gem, Mackerel Sky, was considered missing for years, but has resurfaced and will be featured in my exhibit".
According to gallery experts, the artwork, which measures 29 inches by 21 inches, is valued at at least £ 250,000. A piece by Ravilious that had not been seen since the war years was sold for a similar price in 2018.
Ravilious, a war artist most renowned for his images of the South Downs and other English landscapes, grew up in East Sussex.
Mackerel Sky is one of his 30 paintings from the 1920s and 1930s that the art world couldn't certify still existed, because so many of his works were destroyed during WWII.
Ravilious died in a plane crash off the coast of Iceland in 1942 at the age of 39.
Paintings, sculptures, and drawings by LS Lowry, Richard Eurich, Paul Nash, Laura Knight, William Roberts, Henry Moore, and Barbara Hepworth will also be on display at the Hastings Contemporary Art Gallery exhibition.
Liz Gilmore, director of Hastings Contemporary, said: "We are committed to supporting cultural recovery at the national level and economy and tourism at the local level”.
Written by Giovanni Florean
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