Raymond Sheppard, C. F. Tunnicliffe and Ernest Hemingway and The Old Man and the Sea: Part Three

Tunnicliffe's cover to 1953 Reprint Society

I wonder if Raymond Sheppard had not died so young whether he, like his contemporary Charles Frederick Tunnicliffe, would not have earned himself an OBE. Considering his short life Sheppard had lots of post-nominals already.

Charles Tunnicliffe was born 1 December 1901 in Langley, Macclesfield, and died 7 February 1979 (aged 77) in Malltraeth, Anglesey and if Sheppard ever had a rival, I feel this man fits the bill. he, like Sheppard, was prolific and worked in the area of birds and animal painting and drawing.In fact in this strange tale of the Reprint Society's 1953 edition of the Old Man and the Sea, Tunnicliffe produced an almost equal number of drawings as Sheppard. It is not known whether he, like Sheppard, had some drawings rejected for inclusion - I guess simply because of space - but I'm glad the publishers listed which were which.

Publisher's Note

I confess, even knowing Sheppard art so well I have initially mistaken some of Tunnicliffe's for Sheppard's. They both contributed to The Children's Wonder Book in Colour and the subject matter is often the same too. Tunnicliffe produced "How to draw farm animals" in the same series that Sheppard wrote "How to draw birds", "More birds to draw" and "Drawing at the zoo"; both drew for Lilliput and drew in comics.

p.72 He started to work his weary way to the stern

p.86 The man ties the marlin alongside

p. 98 Shark fins approach

p.112 The man collapses exhausted still carrying his mast

p.116 The boy tends the old man in his bed

That completes all the published pictures by Raymond Sheppard, but with Christine Sheppard's permission here are 7 unpublished drawings. They were exhibited at the Wildlife Art Gallery and sold with the others as a whole collection. It was good to know the set had not been broken up and perhaps one day we might see high resolution scans appear.

The old man in bed

The marlin is caught

The old man pulls on the line

The marlin thrashes about

The man fends off a shark

Men gather round the boat and the marlin

The old man and the boy talk

Lastly, mentioning the Wildlife Art Gallery reminded me that they produced a poster for this exhibition (in Sept - Oct 2009)

Wildlife Art Gallery, 2009

And don't forget to browse the Tunnicliffe Society's pages