Charles Tunnicliffe

Charles Frederick Tunnicliffe
Born (1901-12-01)1 December 1901
Langley, Macclesfield, England
Died 7 February 1979(1979-02-07) (aged 77)
Malltraeth, Anglesey, Wales
Nationality British
Awards Fellow of the Royal Academy
RSPB Gold Medal
OBE

Charles Frederick Tunnicliffe, OBE, RA (1 December 1901 – 7 February 1979)[1] was an internationally renowned naturalistic painter of British birds and other wildlife. He spent most of his working life on the Isle of Anglesey.

Life

Tunnicliffe was born in 1901 in Langley, Macclesfield, England, the fourth surviving child of William Tunnicliffe (died 20 June 1925) of Lane Ends Farm, Sutton, near Macclesfield,[2] a tenant farmer, formerly a boot and shoemaker,[3] and Margaret (died 21 February 1942).[4][5] He spent his early years living on the farm at Sutton, where he saw much wildlife. As a young boy he attended Sutton St. James’ C.E. Primary School, and in 1916 he began to study at the Macclesfield School of Art.[6] He went on to win a scholarship to the Royal College of Art in London.[7]

He married in 1929 at the Methodist Church, Whalley Range, Manchester, to Winifred Wonnacott (24 June 1902 – 27 June 1969),[8][9] a fellow art student, from Hollywood, near Belfast.[6][10]

In 1947 he moved from Manchester to a house called "Shorelands" at Malltraeth, on the estuary of the Afon Cefni on Anglesey, where he lived until his death in 1979.

Work

Tunnicliffe worked in several media, including watercolor painting, etching and aquatint, wood engraving, woodcut, scraperboard (sometimes called scratchboard), and oil painting.

A Snowy Owl, Anglesey, date unknown.

Much of Tunnicliffe's work depicted birds in their natural settings and other naturalistic scenes. He illustrated Henry Williamson's Tarka the Otter.[7] His work was also used to illustrate Brooke Bond tea cards and as a result was seen by millions of young people in the United Kingdom during the 1950s and 1960s. He also illustrated a number of books, including the Ladybird books. His work was characterised by its precision and accuracy, but also by the way in which he was able to portray birds as they were seen in nature rather than as stiff scientific studies.

From March 1953, he painted many of the cover illustrations for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds's (RSPB) magazine Bird Notes, and several for the later Birds magazines. Two of the originals are on long-term loan to the gallery at Oriel Ynys Môn, but in 1995 the RSPB sold 114 at a Sotheby's auction, raising £210,000; the most expensive being a picture of a partridge, which sold for £6,440.[11]

At his death, much of his personal collection of work was bequeathed to Anglesey council on the condition that it was housed together and made available for public viewing. This body of work can now be seen at Oriel Ynys Môn (The Anglesey Gallery) near Llangefni.

His work is still celebrated with the Charles and Winifred Tunnicliffe Memorial Art Competition, which is held annually at Hollinhey Primary School, Sutton, which itself is built on land which was formally part of the farm he lived on as a boy.[12]

Honours

Tunnicliffe was the subject of a 1981 BBC Wales television documentary, True to Nature, produced by Derek Trimby and narrated by Robert Dougall.[14][15]

Bibliography

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

At least 250 books used Tunnicliffe's illustrations, including:

Further reading

See also

References

  1. ↑ Wildlife Art Archived June 20, 2009, at the Wayback Machine.
  2. ↑ Principal Probate Registry calendars 1925, T-Tu, p. 143
  3. ↑ 1901 England Census - National Archives, RG13/3315, f. 29, p. 7
  4. ↑ 1911 England Census - National Archives, RG14/21493, ED. 6, Schedule 22
  5. ↑ Principal Probate Registry calendars 1942, T-Tu, p. 690
  6. 1 2 http://atlantic-cable.com/Article/CandW/TunnicliffeL.htm
  7. 1 2 The Welsh Academy Encyclopaedia of Wales. John Davies, Nigel Jenkins, Menna Baines and Peredur Lynch (2008) pg892 ISBN 978-0-7083-1953-6
  8. ↑ England & Wales, Death Index, 1916-2007
  9. ↑ Principal Probate Registry calendars 1969, T-Tu, p. 267
  10. ↑ England & Wales, Marriage Index, 1916-2005
  11. ↑ RSPB Birds magazine, Vol 16 No 01, February–April 1996, page 10
  12. ↑ Charles and Winifred Tunnicliffe Memorial Art Competition at Hollinhey Primary School Archived July 20, 2011, at the Wayback Machine.
  13. ↑ The Charles Tunnicliffe Society: A Short Biography
  14. ↑ Sketches of Birdlife, with introduction and commentary by Robert Gillmor. Gollancz. ISBN 0-575-03036-4
  15. ↑ Bfi page on True to nature

External links

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