Low Tide, Sherringham

Edward Ardizzone RA (1900 - 1979)

RA Collection: Art

Ardizzone's Diploma work is a watercolour of Sheringham beach in Norfolk at Low Tide. Born in what is now Vietnam, Ardizzone and his sisters were sent to live with their grandmother in Ipswich at an early age. Although he was sent to school in Surrey and the family later settled in London, his daughter Christiana Clemence has said that spending time by the East Anglian coast as a boy gave Ardizzone 'his love of the docks and little ships'. These interests are evident in the <I>Little Tim</I> series of books that he wrote and illustrated (from 1936) and he also produced numerous beach and coastal scenes like this one, though more frequently depicting Kent.

Ardizzone was best known for his illustrations and also for his work as an official war artist during the Second World War recording scenes he observed in France, North Africa and Italy. His war diaries and more than 300 of his works are owned by the Imperial War Museum. After the war, he worked extensively as an illustrator, completing c. 170 illustrated books including his own Clive King's <I>Stig of the Dump</I> and his own <I>Little Tim</I> series.