| Christine | Farmer |

I recently visited the ‘Tale-Pieces’ exhibition of the work of the self-taught wood engraver and naturalist Thomas Bewick, at the Ikon Gallery in Birmingham. ‘Tale-piece’ was Bewick’s amusing name for the extremely small engravings (just an inch or so in size) which he used to finish off chapters of his books on Natural History.

The magnifying glasses handed out as one enters the gallery really are necessary, as it is astonishing the amount of detail which Bewick captured in these tiny vignettes. The works, displayed two to a framed page, mostly depict scenes from country life, including fishing and more domestic activities, which bring to mind folk-songs and ballads. But there is also something darker yet simultaneously whimsical in the images of trapping, flooding, graveyards, and crumbling ruins with their portentous Latin inscriptions.

What amazed and amused me most was the almost surreal nature of some of the imagery: a couple on a galloping horse encountering a gargantuan leaf was perhaps the most arresting, along with a monkey staring into a shaving mirror. But the one engraving I’d been really looking forward to was the one in which Bewick had carved a reproduction of his own thumb-print as the main part of the design, and it did not disappoint. Prepared to go hunting for the hidden fingerprint with my trusty magnifying glass I was delighted as it appeared, large as you like, taking up almost the entirety of one of the smaller pieces.

Needless to say with my love of the surreal and the miniature, to say nothing of Natural History and engraving, I’ll no doubt be returning to the subject of Thomas Bewick at a later date. Meanwhile, you might like to visit the webpages of the Bewick Society, and their blog, Tale-Pieces. And I highly recommend a trip to the exhibition to see these engravings for yourself if at all possible.

Thomas Bewick ‘Tale-Pieces’ continues at the Ikon Gallery, Birmingham until the 25th May, after which it can be seen at The Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle.

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