Nationality:
british
Gender:
Male
Birth Date:
1753
Birth Place:
Cherryburn, Northumberland, England
Death Date:
1828
Death Place:
Gateshead
Printmaker and illustrator. Revived the art of wood engraving and established it as a major printmaking technique.
Although a brilliant technical innovator, Bewick did not invent wood engraving as is sometimes claimed. Instead, he rediscovered the technique of incising a design into endwood with a cutting tool called a burin. He also revived the practice of white-line printing.
Bewick's works include illustrations for such books as A General History of Quadrupeds (1790) and A History of British Birds ("Land Birds," 1797, and "Water Birds," 1804). A bird watcher and amateur naturalist, Bewick based his illustrations on his own watercolor studies made from nature.
