Charles Tunnicliffe: A Cheshire Countryman – Exhibition at the Silk Mill Museum

Now open in the between Floors Gallery at the Silk Museum is a new exhibition featuring the work of local artist Charles Tunnicliffe:

Charles Tunnicliffe: A Cheshire Countryman

Charles Frederick Tunnicliffe (1901-1979) was Britain’s foremost 20th-century wildlife artist, renowned for his decorative watercolours of birds.

Born in Langley, Macclesfield, he lived and worked on the family farm until he was 19 years old. He studied at the Macclesfield School of Art (the building which now houses The Silk Museum on Park Lane) before receiving a scholarship to the Royal College of Art in London.

This exhibition explores both his well-observed images of rural Macclesfield in the early 20th century and his later commercial successes – most notably his illustrations for Henry Williamson’s 1932 edition of Tarka the Otter.

Tunnicliffe’s wife Winifred – whom he met whilst studying at the Royal College of Art – was also an artist, and you can see an example of one of her carved bookcases and a ceramic polar bear at the top of the stairs.

Open: Monday-Saturday, from 10am-4pm