ARTHUR WRAGG (1903-1976) The New Master and two further orig...

Hammer

£80

ARTHUR WRAGG (1903-1976) The New Master and two further original works by Roberts Johnson The New Master, ink and watercolour on board, 31.5cm x 27cm, produced for Woman's Pictorial magazine and highlighted on page 132 of Judy Brook's biography on Arthur Wragg; together with a watercolour of The White Horse at Romsey Hampshire, signed by Roberts Johnson, 38cm x 26.5cm and a pastel on paper mounted onto board of a farmer and two cows, 22cm x 29.5cm. Frederick Roberts Johnson and Arthur Wragg, two friends who met whilst training to become commercial artists, moved together to Polperro in 1924, staying at 'The House on the Props'. They had somewhat contrasting styles which somehow sometimes overlapped; Wragg's style was likened to David Low and Victor 'Vicky Weisz, sharing within his lifetime the same respect and public interest as the two aforementioned. His work was also regularly compared to that of Aubrey Beardsley, though Wragg's own heroes were Cruickshank, Albrecht Durer and William Blake, the latter being someone he was also compared to within his lifetime. Wragg's first book was hugely successful, having to be reprinted three times in one year and it became Book of The Year in America. Frederick Roberts Johnson was a very succesful commercial artist and was often the one who usually went to London in search of commissions for the pair. He often used the name 'Essex' or 'Sax', drawing funnies for Punch, Everyman magazine and Tribune, as well as advertisements for Lyons Tea Shops and producing dustjacket book illustrations for various authors. His style was more varied and experimental, with impressionism, cubism and abstract examples of his work within the sale.