James Thomas Armour Osborne was born in Ninfield, East Sussex, Britain in January 1907, the son of a Scottish farmer who migrated to England at the beginning of the century.
Harry Eccleston, President of the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers and Engravers said: “Although I have known and admired individual pieces of Osborne’s work for the past forty years, seeing it all gathered together is a revelation.
You are suddenly aware of how much he is following in the great tradition of those British artists who have found their inspiration in animals and birds which surround them: Stubbs, Bewick and more recently Tunnicliffe”.
Osborne’s works are a combination of colour wood engravings, linocuts and silk screens prints, illustrating a range of wildlife, with a special emphasis towards birds.
The large woodcuts and linocuts are in direct contrast with the small delicate black and white wood engravings of his earlier works.