Arthur Wragg. The Song of Songs with Drawings by ____. (1952)

Arthur Wragg. The Song of Songs with Drawings by ____. London-New York-Melbourne-Sydney-Cape Town: Selwyn & Blount, [s. a.]. 242 cm., 63 pp. Tapa dura, tela editorial con camisa.

Sobrecubierta (camisa) fatigada. Una página rasgada (ver foto).

Sin año, pero 1952. No años 30 o 40 como muchos libreros conjeturan.

Arthur Wragg (3 January 1903 – 17 August 1976) was a British illustrator. In the 1920s he contributed mostly to women's magazines, but later branched out into book-jackets and work for left-wing newspapers such and illustrations for books and pamphlets about Christian socialism, pacifism and social justice. Wragg illustrated biblical texts in a politicised way, notably The Psalms for Modern Life (Selwyn & Blount 1933) which went through several reprints. The simplified block-style and dramatic chiaroscuro effects of these illustrations make them resemble woodcuts rather than pen and ink drawings (misleading some collectors into thinking the books were reissues of hand-printed original editions). He blended social realities and symbols to convey deprivation, justice, conscience, and the persistence of spiritual values in the alienated urban-industrial environment.

After imprisonment, he became an art-teacher in schools, returning to freelance work after the war. His personal style became more airy and more fantastical, and sometimes surreal.

From 1953 until his death he produced illustrations for record covers for Argo record company.

No catalogue of his work exists, but a biography Arthur Wragg: Twentieth-century Prophet and Jester (Sansom 2001) was published by the late Judith Brook, one of his students.