TUNNICLIFFE'S COUNTRYSIDE

by Ian Niall ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 22, 1986

An anthology of drawings, watercolors, pastels, wood engravings scraperboards (scratchboards in America), by Charles Tunnicliffe, the dean of English nature illustrators. Assembled by his friend and collaborator Niall, the art works represent a lifetime devoted to observing with an ever-fresh eye the British countryside, its people, plants, domestic animals and wildlife. The plates, many in color, are accompanied by quotations from Tunnicliffe's own works as well as the writings of other nature writers. Raised on a small farm in Cheshire, Tunnicliffe knew whereof he drew and wrote. His description of the pleasures and problems of drawing sleeping pigs, for example, is typical. You must sneak up on them, he tells his readers, and if one should wake, they'll all scatter, generally to the darkest recesses of the sty. ""Pigs are most intelligent animals,"" Tunnicliffe says admiringly. Best known for his bird portraiture, the artist is equally adept at capturing the atmosphere of a farm village, the stance of a startled stoat, the arc of a salmon ascending a weir. Many readers will undoubtedly prefer his black-and-white works to the watercolors and pastels, which in comparison frequently seem somewhat facile and a bit cartoonish. In the monochromes, however, Tunnicliffe reveals both his sensitivity and his power. Particularly impressive are the marvelously detailed vignettes, some no larger than a matchbook cover, that display a breathtaking command of line and texture. Introducing the six sections of the book are a half-dozen essays by Niall outlining his friend's career and accomplishments. The tone here is affectionate without ever becoming maudlin, the writing graceful. Tunnicliffe's life was, despite early financial difficulties and later problems with his eyesight, a remarkably full and satisfying one, apparently. Though he often blamed an early publisher for overtaxing his eyes by his demands for more and more engravings, one has the feeling Tunnicliffe was happy doing what he did superlatively well--drawing and painting the world around him. If it's good to read of a life filled with simple pleasures, it's even better to discover those pleasures recorded so splendidly in these paintings, prints and drawings. In sum, a gently evocative paean to the bucolic life.

Pub Date: April 22, 1986

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Salem

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1986

Categories: NONFICTION