Charles Tunnicliffe was born at Langley near Macclesfield in Cheshire, where his father was a cobbler. Charles showed early signs of  artistic talent and was eventually awarded scholarships to Macclefield School of Art and later to the Royal College of Art in London. In 1947 he and his wife purchased Shorelands - the house at Malltreath on the estuary of the Cefni river in Anglesey where he lived for 35 years until his death. He was granted membership of the Royal Academy in 1954. A permanent exhibition of over 300 Tunnicliffe watercolours, woodcuts and sketches resides at the Oriel Ynys Môn Art Gallery near Llangfeni on Anglesey; a touring exhibition is about to be launched at the Durham Art Galley, from September 9th to October 22nd 2000.
For details of the permanent exhibition contact:

Oriel Ynys Môn
Tel: 01248 724444
Fax: 01248 750282
e-mail: OrielYnysMon@anglesey.gov.uk

Tunnicliffe's biographer Iain Niall reveals the great breadth of Tunnicliffe's canvas in  'Portrait of A Country Artist'. He was, by turn, wildlife artist, landscape artist, scientific ornithologist, book illustrator, etcher and carver of woodcuts. He illustrated books by many of the greatest writers of his day, including: Henry Williamson, H.E. Bates, Fraser Darling, R.M. Lockley, Ernest Hemingway etc. Some of the books which he illustrated, such as Tarka the Otter and Salar the Salmon  command high prices.

The following images are displayed by kind permission of the Tunnicliffe Family Trust, which retains copyright on all of his works.  Contact John Smith, Technical Officer at the Oriel Galley above for details of how to obtain copyright permissions.

The vast majority of Tunnicliffe's work is concerned with scientific ornithology but he brought the same observational exactness to the canaries he painted for  The Cinnamon Bird by R.M. Lockley, (Staples Press, London, 1948)  This classic book by the famous ecologist contained just four plates of original watercolours by Tunnicliffe. One of the finest works of literature and scientific observation on the canary ever produced.  It tells the story of how Lockley freed six pairs of Border canaries on the island of Skokholm in 1938, and recorded their lives in the years leading up to WWII. Tunnicliffe's watercolours are superb works of art which capture the essence of the canaries appearance and behaviour. His treatment of the lichen-covered rocks here is meticulous and botanically accurate.

'Kitty', 'True Blue' and 'Sea-Green' at the nest © C.F. Tunnicliffe Family Trust

In 1938, ecologist Lockley brought six pairs of canaries to Skokholm from a fancier's aviary at Mill Hill in London.  He allowed them to choose their own mates in a large aviary at the bird observatory where he had come to carry out his studies. When the birds nested the aviary was opened and they were allowed to fly free to bring back wild food for their young. His daughter's favourite bird, which became the eponymous heroine of the story, was 'Kitty' -  'The Cinnamon Bird'. Ronald Lockley wrote many classic books on the ecology of British Seabirds and also wrote: Letters from Skokholm; I Know an Island and The Way to an Island. He died in Spring this year.

The Courtship of 'Kitty' and 'True Blue' © C.F. Tunnicliffe Family Trust

Tunnicliffe 2