FROM animals and insects to a literary classic. No, it's not a selection of books, but the latest works of art on show at Abbot Hall.

Preview night at the popular Kendal gallery was another busy affair, with the great and the good straining to get the best views of the Graham Sutherland and Paula Rego creations on show until March 20.

The late Graham Sutherland (1903-1980) is best known for his portraits, his tapestry design for the new Coventry Cathedral in 1955 and his surreal landscapes.

This show frames Sutherland as a printmaker.

He trained at Goldsmith's in 1921 and his first etchings were exhibited at the Royal Academy the same year.

He didn't start painting until his late twenties, producing surrealist landscapes and drawing inspiration from the colours and natural forms he discovered while wandering through the countryside.

Apparently his fascination with the interplay of colour and tone led him to experiment with lithography as an alternative to the monochrome etching technique.

He explored and mastered the medium, publishing several major print portfolios with Malborough Fine Art between 1966 and 1980.

Hailed as one of the most famous British artists of the 20th Century, there is no doubt about Sutherland's extraordinary vision and eye for the animal and insect world - Chained Beast, Toad and Ram's Head are stunning examples of this. Others inspired by poet Apollinaire's La Bestiaire, such as The Sirens, hint at the mythological - The Octopus is dark and disturbing.

Meanwhile, the work of Paula Rego raised a few eyebrows on preview night, particularly the Jane Eyre connection.

Although best-known for her works in pastel, the figurative artist has increasingly used printmaking for its immediacy and to develop further her own distinctive visual language.

Her narrative pictures plunge the viewer into the darker side of human nature and emotion, exploring powerful themes of love and desire, cruelty and tenderness, hence her journey into the world of Charlotte Bronte's 19th Century classic novel.

The work, the first major suite of lithographs Rego has produced, is grouped into five using different techniques.

They depict Jane Eyre as a child and a victim of cruelty growing into a survivor.

However, the Portuguese artist's imagination pushes out the boundaries of the Bronte story and entwines the heroine's character with that of Bertha, Mr Rochester's mad wife who, if Bronte fans recall, is imprisoned in an upstairs room.

The prints range in subject from expressive individual figures to more complex detailed narrative scenes.

And the penetrating stare in the lithograph of Mr Rochester on horseback sends a chill down your spine.

Prints from the series are already owned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the British Museum, but some are available to buy at Abbot Hall.

Abbot Hall is open Monday-Saturday 10.30am-4pm. For further details, contact 01539-722464.