Arthur WRAGG (1903-1976) Verdi's Rigoletto. A Tragic Opera, ...

Estimate

£200 - £300

Arthur WRAGG (1903-1976) Verdi's Rigoletto. A Tragic Opera, In Three Acts An incomplete work of imense skill and detail, folio, cloth backed boards with gold gilt painted title to front board, chips and rubbed to extremities, tide mark to front pastedown, some spotting and finger soiling throughout, pp.27 of hand drawn decorations mostly in ink, some direct to boards and some tipped in, including flowers, Rigoletto himself, titles, actors, The Countess Ceprano, The Duke, Gilda, Sparafucile etc, circa 1920's and 30s. This singular work is noted for its incredible detail and was produced around the age of 20, when Wragg was at art school attempting to learn to become a commercial artist, something he admitted to finding tiresome, finding the commercial application of making pictures dull. Although unfinished, it reveals Wragg's vision, as evidenced by the completed Title page, Dramatis Personae and Foreword. It seems Wragg intended to use Piaxe's text as a foundation. The artwork, primarily rendered in black ink, features elaborate decorations and full page illustrations of the main characters, executed with zeal and an embrace of the grotesque and decadent, reminiscent of Aubrey Beardsley's style, though Wragg himself denied such comparison, with his own private heroes being Cruikshank, William Blake and Durer. When shown to art editors in London, the drawings were deemed too 'decadent', 'horrible' and 'dusgusting' to which Wragg replied 'And I see it that way; Rigoletto is a horrible story'. Image 17 & 19 reproduced within Judy Brook's biography on Arthur Wragg, p.41 & 43. 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.