Robin and Heather Tanner

Robin Tanner was born in 1904 in Bristol although his family moved to Chippenham, Wiltshire while he was very young. Over 60 years he produced nearly 50 etchings celebrating his beloved Wiltshire countryside. Following in the tradition of Samuel Palmer and Frederick Griggs, Harvest Festival (1930), Autumn (1933) and Wren and Primroses (1935) are amongst his most enduring images.

Tanner was also known as a radical educationalist, advocating a child centred approach to learning and the full integration of art and design into the syllabus. He trained as a teacher at Goldsmiths College, University of London from 1922-1924, going on to teach at Blackheath Road Boys' School in Greenwich in 1924 . Whilst at Greenwich he studied drawing and etching at Goldsmiths School of Art under Clive Gardner and Stanley Anderson, producing his first etching A Tithe Barn in 1926 .

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