Exploring the School of Art Collection 2018

As part of the first year art history module Exploring the School of Art Collections, students have the opportunity to write a small piece for this blog. This year the group decided on the theme of ‘The Stage’. Each student had the opportunity to choose from a selection of prints, drawings and photographs featuring theatres, concerts, ballets, circuses and more. They only had one week to undertake some research before presenting their drafts. They all worked very hard on these projects so please take the time to view their efforts.

‘To hell with nature!’ A Reappraisal of Charles Tunnicliffe Prints – at the School of Art Gallery, 12/02/-16/03/2018

‘To hell with nature!’ – A Reappraisal of Charles Tunnicliffe Prints

Painter-printmaker Charles Tunnicliffe (1901–1979) grew up on a farm near Macclesfield in Cheshire. A scholarship enabled him to study at the Royal College of Art in London. Soon after his studies, Tunnicliffe gained a reputation as an etcher of farming subjects. Today, he is widely regarded as Britain’s foremost twentieth-century wildlife artist.

Towards the end of a career spanning six decades, Tunnicliffe was awarded the Gold Medal of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. In an interview published in the Society’s magazine, Tunnicliffe stated:

‘I have shocked quite a lot of people by saying ‘To hell with nature!’ Nature is made to be used, not to be dictator, as far as the dyed-in-the-wool artist is concerned.’

Tunnicliffe’s exclamation expresses the frustration of an artist whose pictures are often judged on the strength of their fidelity to nature. Instead, Tunnicliffe’s prints show us nature transformed by culture and outdone by art. They demonstrate their maker’s knowledge of art history, his love of design, and the need to tell his own story.

Printmaking earned Tunnicliffe his Royal Academy of Arts membership in 1954. By then, he rarely produced fine art prints. For decades, Tunnicliffe’s work in various media appeared in magazines, on calendars and biscuit tins.

The stock market crash of 1929 had made it necessary for Tunnicliffe to rethink his career. Turning from etching to wood engraving, he became a prolific illustrator. His first project was Tarka the Otter.

Anglesey was no retreat for Tunnicliffe. Working on commission, he created colourful paintings he described as ‘decorations for modern rooms.’ He also continued to turn out mass-reproduced designs that promoted anything from pesticides to the Midland Bank.

Since the mid-1930s, Tunnicliffe’s work has been appreciated mainly second-hand. Until last year, when Robert Meyrick and I put together a catalogue raisonné of his etchings and wood engravings, Tunnicliffe never had a printmaking exhibition at the Royal Academy.

For some of his early prints, no contemporary impressions are known to exist. The plates were proofed by School of Art printmaker Andrew Baldwin.

Tunnicliffe’s career does not fit into the narrative of Modernism. It is a product of modernity. In his work, at least, he never said ‘to hell’ with culture. Pragmatic yet passionate, he made images to make a living.

Harry Heuser, exhibition curator

Curatorial team: Phil Garratt, Neil Holland, Robert Meyrick, Karen Westendorf

Peter Davies: Peregrination at the School of Art Gallery, 23 November 2017 – 02 February 2018

For more information, please click here

Free ‘Mighty Joe Young’ Workshops

 

“Re-animating ‘Mighty Joe Young’”: Free stop-motion animation workshops by Holden Holcombe, School of Art

Workshop 1: 28th and 29th November

Workshop 2: 12th and 13th December

For bookings, please contact Holden Holcombe: hoh10@aber.ac.uk

“Imaginary Worlds”: Free illustration workshops by Chris Iliff, School of Art

Workshop 1: Creating believable characters – 30th November
Workshop 2: Designing worlds to be lived in – 7th December

Time: 10:30 – 12:30

Location: To be decided

For bookings, please contact Chris Iliff: chi@aber.ac.uk

Terry Bell Hughes- exhibition: 11 November 2017 – 21 January 2018, CERAMIC GALLERY, Aberystwyth Arts Centre

“Recapturing ‘Mighty Joe Young’: The Movie, the Memory, the Make-believe.” Exhibition 20 November 2017 – 02 February 2018

Exploring the School of Art Collection – 2016

 

As part of the first year art history module Exploring the School of Art Collections, students have the opportunity to write a small piece for this blog. This year the group focused on our photography collection. Each student had the opportunity to choose from a selection of prints from British, American and Italian photographers active in the mid 20^th century. They only had one week to undertake some research before presenting their drafts. They all worked very hard on these projects so please take the time to view their efforts.

Alternative Facts: Interpreting Works from the School of Art Collection: 22 May to 29 September 2017 at the School of Art Gallery, Aberystwyth University

The phrase ‘alternative facts’ is a recent addition to our vocabulary.  It has come to prominence in a political climate in which views and actions are shaped more by emotions than by reliable intelligence.  Reflecting this shift, Oxford Dictionaries declared ‘post-truth’ to be Word of the Year 2016.  And yet, alternative facts are as old as language itself.

Matter of Life and Death: An Exhibition of Photographs from the University Collection 16 May – 9 September 2016 at the School of Art Gallery, Aberystwyth University

Matter of Life and Death was an exhibition of black-and-white photographs from the School of Art collection at Aberystwyth University. About sixty photographs were selected for display by a group of School of Art undergraduates who were enrolled on the module Curating an Exhibition.

Karen’s Cabinet of Curiosities June 2017

Curiosity: Headrest/stool

Origin: South Sudan, Africa

Creator: Bari tribe

Date: 1902

Material: Wood and leather

Measurements: 155 x 200mm