Thursday, April 05, 2007
Illustration: Lawson Wood- The Monkey Painter
This post is just the tip of the iceberg... see The Top Ten Reasons To Support The A-HAA for more jaw dropping images from classic illustrated books and magazines.


Wood was born in London in 1878 to a family already well outfitted with artists. He developed his skills swiftly, and by age 18 he was a published illustrator. By the early years of the 20th century, he was established as an artist adept at both "straight" subjects and humorous fantasy. His images of cave men and dinosaurs were particularly popular in England, but the paintings that brought him fame in America were his monkeys...

This album was brought to us to digitize by archive supporter, Mike Fontanelli, and it gives you a good idea of how much Wood got out of his silly subject matter. Wood's Gran'pop Monkey and friends graced the cover of many issues of Colliers, and there was even talk of adapting the characters to star in a series of animated cartoons. Ub Iwerks was slated to produce the series, but the outbreak of war and the closing of Iwerks' studio nipped the idea in the bud. However, Wood understood the value of merchandising early on; he even headed up his own toy manufacturing firm, and he died a very wealthy man in 1957.
Some people can't get past the "kitsch factor" of Wood's illustrations. But even those who hate his work have to grudgingly admit that he had wonderful painting technique. Love him or hate him, here is Lawson Wood...











Many thanks to Mike Fontanelli for his generous support of the Archive project.
If you found this post useful, see also... John Bauer's Bland Tomtar Och Troll / Frank Reynolds Paints Pickwick / Arthur Szyk's The New Order / Artzybasheff's Neurotica, Machinalia and Diablerie
Stephen Worth
Director
ASIFA-Hollywood
Animation Archive
Labels: anthropomorphism, colliers, illustration, lawson wood






























5 Comments:
why would anybody HATE this guy!? jealousy..?? this stuff is amazing
If you like the work of Lawson Wood you should look up two other
British illustrators, Harry Rountree and J.A.Shepherd not to be confused with E.H. Shephard(Winnie the Pooh)equally amazing
artists and caricaturists of animals.
Chuck G
I have a thing for old illustration depicting animals carrying on with human activities. Maybe it's because I read so many children's books when I was a kid. There were a lot of Wind In The Willows type, 'realistic animals doing people things' in those.
So I'm enjoying these.
Perhaps the subject matter is a little uninspired on some - but I dig 'em just the same.
Gran'pop rises to make a speech and "Hi!" cried Gran'pop may be my favorites from this batch.
- Corbett
I'm 60 now but remember these as a kid in gas stations and the like. I just bought a old calandar top with a 20X24 print, frameing it today for the grandkids area, family tradition I guess. Lee
I'm 60 now and remember "Lawson Wood's Merry Monkeys" a sort of annual that belonged to my sister. Incredible humour in the pictures, he was a master of expressions.
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