CHARLES TUNNICLIFFE R.A. R.E. (1901-1978)

ETCHINGS 1925-1928

This is a small but representative group from the 90 or so etchings Tunnicliffe made between 1924 – the year he studied printmaking at the RCA under Malcolm Osborne (1880-1963) – and 1929 when the Wall Street Crash ripped the bottom out of the print market. Brought up on a farm in the village of Sutton Lane Ends near Macclesfield in Cheshire, Tunnicliffe’s etchings of rural life stand in stark contrast to the romantic, pastoral ‘visions’ of Robin Tanner, Paul Drury and Graeme Sutherland. But they are not without feeling. These depictions of the rhythm and hard toil of the farming year are a loving record of a way of life that was fast disappearing and which, with the increase of mechanisation and automation, would largely disappear by WWII.

Any lover or cataloguer of Tunnicliffe’s prints is now blessed to have Robert Meyrick and Harry Heuser’s excellent catalogue Raisonne (R.A., 2017). The details below all come from this excellent tome.