3. Re-classifying Gwen Raverat

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Through five fluctuating reputations, Ian Sansom explores very different species of near-fame: the once-fashionable and now forgotten; the critically admired but never widely read; the artists overshadowed by big names or big movements; the careers derailed by circumstance; the work that doesn’t fit what the culture is looking for. He suggests that obscurity tells us what a culture values, and just as importantly, what it overlooks. In exploring the careers of the almost-famous, Sansom charts a map of shifting tastes, attention, fashion, politics and technology. In the third essay in the series, Ian considers accomplished and admired wood engraver Gwen Raverat, whose story shows how obscurity can belong not just to a person but to a medium, as the once-popular art form in which she excelled became, if not extinct, then a specialist preserve. Presenter: Ian Sansom Producer: Sara Davies Sound Designer: Matt Bainbridge