1942
watercolor
From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum
Woodford in the Avon Valley is a 1942 watercolor by Anna Lea Merritt, held at Victoria and Albert Museum.
This painting shows a quiet village scene with three small houses along a winding dirt road. The buildings have thatched roofs and simple windows, and a lone figure walks near the center house. Trees and bushes fill the background, with hills fading into a soft, hazy light. The brushstrokes are loose and quick, giving the scene a gentle, unfinished feel—like a sketch left out in the sun. The colors are muted, with earthy browns and greens blending into the distance. Next, check out the Victoria and Albert Museum to see more works like this.
Woodford in the Avon Valley is a watercolour created in 1942 by Merritt as part of the Recording Britain project. The work was commissioned under a wartime scheme organized by the Committee for the Employment of Artists in Wartime, funded by the Pilgrim Trust and directed by Sir Kenneth Clark. The project aimed to document aspects of British life and landscape perceived as threatened by war or modernization, focusing on rural and historical subjects. The resulting collection consists of over 1,500 works by 97 artists, including notable figures such as John Piper and Rowland Hilder.
Read the full account in the museum source.
Anna Massey Lea Merritt (September 13, 1844 – April 7, 1930) was an American artist from Philadelphia who lived and worked in Great Britain for most of her life.
See the richer artist page
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