Engravings by Thomas Bewick to display at Laing Art Gallery

Apr 21 2009 by Paul Loraine, The Journal

WOODCUTS by famous North East engraver and naturalist Thomas Bewick are to go on display at a Newcastle gallery.

The vignettes – a form invented by Bewick – depict a series of rural scenes inspired by his childhood in Northumberland.

Born in 1753 near Mickley, he became an apprentice at the Beilby workshop in Newcastle before going into partnership with the owner and later taking it over entirely.

In 1790 he produced the book that made him famous – an illustrated animal encyclopedia called The General History of Quadrupeds.

He placed the vignettes in between the encyclopedia entries to add some light relief. Bewick called them Tail-Pieces or Tale-Pieces because they often had a story.

One of the pieces shows a man on stilts crossing a river, while another The Drunken Reveller pictures a man stumbling through the countryside.

Another, The Churchyard Cavalry, reveals Bewick’s preoccupation with childhood games, taking as its subject four youngsters riding gravestones like horses. Tale Pieces are currently being showcased at the Ikon Gallery in Birmingham before going on display at the Laing Art Gallery in Newcastle from July 4 to October 18.

Marie-Therese Mayne, assistant keeper of fine and decorative art, said she hoped the exhibition would allow people to discover Bewick, as well as indulging existing fans.

“One of the things that made Bewick so well-loved was that he produced these vignettes for an everyday audience,” she said.