Lawson Wood, sometimes Clarence Lawson Wood , (23 August 1878 – 26 October 1957), was an English painter, illustrator and designer.

Biography

Lawson Wood was born on 23 August 1878 in

Highgate, London Highgate ( ) is a suburban area of north London at the northeastern corner of Hampstead Heath, north-northwest of Charing Cross. Highgate is one of the most expensive London suburbs in which to live. It has two active conservation organisati ...

, the son of landscape artist Pinhorn Wood (1848–1918), and the grandson of architectural artist L.J. Wood , (18131901). He studied at the

Slade School of Fine Art The UCL Slade School of Fine Art (informally The Slade) is the art school of University College London (UCL) and is based in London, England. It has been ranked as the UK's top art and design educational institution. The school is organised as ...

, at the

Heatherley School of Fine Art The Heatherley School of Fine Art is an independent art school in London. The school was named after Thomas Heatherley who took over as the school's principal from James Mathews Leigh (when it was named "Leigh's"). Founded in 1845, the school ...

, and took evening classes at Frank Calderon's School of Animal Painting. In 1896, at age 18, he was employed with periodical publisher C. Arthur Pearson. He soon became Pearson's chief artist, leaving after six years to turn freelance. In 1902, he married the fashion artist Charlotte Forge. The couple had two sons and one daughter.

Work

From the age of 24 he pursued a successful freelance career and was published in ''

The Graphic ''The Graphic'' was a British weekly illustrated newspaper, first published on 4 December 1869 by William Luson Thomas's company Illustrated Newspapers Ltd. Thomas's brother Lewis Samuel Thomas was a co-founder. The premature death of the latt ...

'', ''

The Strand Magazine ''The Strand Magazine'' was a monthly British magazine founded by George Newnes, composed of short fiction and general interest articles. It was published in the United Kingdom from January 1891 to March 1950, running to 711 issues, though the ...

'', ''

Punch Punch commonly refers to: * Punch (combat), a strike made using the hand closed into a fist * Punch (drink), a wide assortment of drinks, non-alcoholic or alcoholic, generally containing fruit or fruit juice Punch may also refer to: Places * Pun ...

'', ''

The Illustrated London News ''The Illustrated London News'' appeared first on Saturday 14 May 1842, as the world's first illustrated weekly news magazine. Founded by Herbert Ingram, it appeared weekly until 1971, then less frequently thereafter, and ceased publication in ...

'', and the '' Boys Own Paper''. He illustrated a number of books including Louis Tracy's ''

The Invaders ''The Invaders'' is an American science-fiction television series created by Larry Cohen that aired on ABC for two seasons, from 1967 to 1968. Roy Thinnes stars as David Vincent, who after stumbling across evidence of an in-progress invasion ...

'' in 1901 for Pearson. Lawson Wood Prestone ad circa 1950s

His books include ''The Bow-Wow Book'' (1912), ''Rummy Tales'' (1920), ''The Noo-Zoo Tales'' (1922), ''Jolly Rhymes'' (1926), ''Fun Fair'' (1931), ''The Old Nursery Rhymes'' (1933), ''The Bedtime Picture Book'' (1943), ''Meddlesome Monkeys'' (1946) and ''Mischief Makers'' (1946). Frederick Warne of London a seried of ''Mr.'' books by Wood in 1916:''Mr Prickles'', ''Mr Quack'', ''Mr Trunk'', ''Mr Grunt'', ''Mr Fox'', and ''Mr Pup''.

Assessment

Peppin and Micklethwait stated that Wood's wide reputation as a humorous illustrator and commercial artist was based in part on astute management. He retained the copyright in his work and licensed it in Britain and abroad for posters, postcards, etc. Cran'pop was merchandised in pottery, calendars, postcards, and cigarette cards. Wood worked in pen and ink, pencils, chalk, and watercolour. He used a specially made enamel palette about one foot (300mm) square and worked on Milburn Drawing Board at an architects desk. Houfe said that most of Wood's work was "humorous in drawing and content, his repertoire of characters including peppery army officers, namby-pamby men and dominating old dames. The figures are heavily caricatured and he was one of the group of artists who made capital out of imaginary prehistoric scenes." Kelly calls a watercolour by Wood "a welcome holiday from the prehistoric monsters and chimpanzees on which he wasted so much talent." Peppin and Micklethwait cite

Percy Bradshaw Percy Venner Bradshaw (27 November 1877 – 13 October 1965), who often signed PVB, was a British illustrator who also created the Press Art School, a correspondence course for drawing. Biography Percy Bradshaw was born in Hackney, part of Lo ...

as saying the Wood had a "breadth, ease and fluency which many an infinitely more serious artist must envy".

Later life

Wood lived in a 15th-century medieval manor house he moved brick by brick from

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

to the

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

border. He died in Devon on 26 October 1957 at the age of 79.

Notes

References

External links

Lawson Wood on Artnet

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wood, Lawson 1878 births 1957 deaths 19th-century English painters English male painters 20th-century English painters English watercolourists English illustrators The New Yorker cartoonists People from Highgate Royal Flying Corps officers 20th-century English male artists 19th-century English male artists