Curlew & Oystercatchers - Birthday Card

"Curlew & Oystercatchers" (1980)

Reproduction: Original Woodblock / Lithograph Print by James T.A. Osborne

Collection: Blank Birthday or Thank You Cards

Size: 135 x 205mm

About James T.A. Osborne:

James T.A. Osborne (1907-1979) R.E. was a master printmaker and engraver. A Rome Scholar and one of the founders of the Society of Wildlife Artists, Osborne’s work is collected by museums across the world including the Victoria and Albert Museum, and The Ashmolean, Oxford. 

Born at Ninfield, Sussex in January 1907,  James T.A. Osborne was the son of a Scottish farmer who migrated to England at the beginning of the century. Throughout his early life he spent much of his time in the surrounding countryside of his parents’ farm, watching and sketching wildlife. This led Osborne to study at Hastings School of Art, concentrating on sculpture. During his time at Hastings he won a scholarship to the Royal College of Art where he found that the medium of print suited his creative personality better and in his final year made the switch to the Print School, then under the direction of Malcolm Osborne. His talent was instantly recognised and he went on to gain the highest accolade, the Prix de Rome Scholarship in Engraving.

Osborne’s works are a combination of colour wood engravings, linocuts and silk screens prints, illustrating a range of wildlife, with an emphasis towards birds. They are bold, interpretive and large scale, rich in colour and detail. Throughout his career, Osborne experimented with all forms of print and paper and his editions never exceeded thirty. The large woodcuts and linocuts  are in direct contrast with the small delicate black and white wood engravings of his earlier works.