Hardback, black and white illustrations, 192 pages, W220mm x H270mm
This catalogue accompanies the first exhibition devoted entirely to
the vignettes of the extraordinary British artist-engraver and
naturalist Thomas Bewick (1753 - 1828).
Bewick's tale-pieces were cut into the end-grain of blocks of
box-wood, an exceptionally close-grained hard wood conductive to a
graphic fineness. The fact that the blocks were sections through
lengths of timber meant that the pictures could not be anything but
small, but this restriction by no means cramped the artist's style. On
the contrary, Bewick developed a meticulousness whereby the slightest
nuances could be conveyed through the tiny lines he left in relief
after engraving.
Amongst his most ambitious projects were illustrations for General History of Quadrupeds (1790) and History of British Birds (two volumes, 1797 and 1804), both of which also included a great number of vignettes.
Bewick referred to these as ‘tale-pieces’. Intended as illustrations of 'some truth or point of some moral' they provide an invaluable insight into social history while also demonstrating the artist’s imagination and wit.