EXTRACTS: Illustrators issue 29 © 2019 The Book Palace (96 PAGES in Full edition)

27 LawsonWood Renowned for his images of monkeys doing foolish business that appeared on the covers of many magazines around the world as well as in books and on calendars and postcards. This humble British artist was also one of the most admired. David Ashford brings us a lively account of his life. Should aficionados of illustrative art ever be asked who was the best artist at depicting horses, dogs or cats, the answers would be pretty varied. The preferred horse artist might be Alfred Munnings, Lucy Kemp- Welch, Fredric Remington or perhaps the comic strip artist, Derek Eyles. There are so many good horse artists to choose from. When it comes to portraying dogs, arguably Cecil Aldin would top the bill as would Louis Wain as the best cat illustrator but there just isn’t any argument when it comes to the question of who was the best monkey artist. There’s only one possible answer: Lawson Wood. The jollity and humour that emanates from Lawson Wood’s colourful monkey pictures tends to obscure the fact that here was an artist who really understood the monkey anatomy and how they stood, walked, sat, crouched — whatever the posture, you can immediately recognise the fact that the artist really knew and admired this animal. In his paintings Lawson Wood introduces us to a whole array of monkey characters, mostly from the same orangutan family with ‘Gran’pop’ at the head of the clan. They get up to all FACING PAGE: The Pump , pencil and watercolour on board. It was with his anthropomorphic and mischievous monkeys (actually orangutans) that Lawson Wood achieved fame all over the world. ABOVE: Playhour No. 24, 1955. Cover for a popular British children’s comic magazine featuring Wood’s beloved monkeys. LEFT: The Noo-Zoo Tales , ink and watercolour, 1922. Cover to ‘The Woolly-Cuddle Helps the Lost Little Girl’, one of the various children’s books Wood wrote and drew. The book tells the story of a lost little girl with a doll who gets help from the Wolly-Cuddle, a large guinea pig, in finding her way back home. The father of the little girl turns out to be a city magnate and, thanking the Woolly-Cuddle for her kindness, gives her so many presents that she needs three porters to help her take them back home.