TUNNICLIFFE, C.F.

"His work had a power and vitality as well as magnificent draughtsmanship and artistry" 

Charles FrederickTunnicliffe was brought up on a  small farm in Cheshire, which instilled in him a deep appreciation of nature and the countryside, and as a youth he spent hours sketching all aspects of farm life.  Upon graduating from the Royal College of Art he started his lifelong career as a wood engraver.   Whilst at college he met the woman who later became his wife, Winifred Wonnacott, who, in 1929, encouraged him to submit some trial illustrations to the publishers of Henry Williamson’s masterpiece, Tarka the Otter. The wood engravings he produced were met with huge enthusiasm and their success led to further commissions to illustrate Williamson’s texts and over one hundred other books over the subsequent decades. 

By the time Tunnicliffe was elected a full member of the Royal Academy in 1954 he had become recognised as one of the foremost wildlife artists of the twentieth century. He was awarded the OBE in 1978, shortly before his death the following year.

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