Tag: engravings

Designer Desire: John Frederick Greenwood

Montage of John Frederick artworks

Why have we not heard of him prior to this week?! John Frederick Greenwood (1885-1954) was born in Rochdale – Justin’s home town.

He was a woodcut artist, copperplate engraver, etcher, illustrator and water-colourist (signing his works ‘John F. Greenwood’).

He studied at Shipley and Bradford Schools of Art (1904-08) and at the Royal College of Art in London (1908-11).

For a short while, Greenwood taught at Batley School of Art before moving on to Battersea Polytechnic (1912-27), Bradford School of Art (1927-37) and was Head of the Design School at Leeds College of Art until his retirement in 1948. Greenwood died in Ilkley in 1954.

In 1982, an exhibition entitled Wood Engravings and Woodcuts by John F. Greenwood and his Contemporaries was held at Bradford Art Galleries and Museums.

He beautifully illustrated a number of books including Twenty-Four Woodcuts of Cambridge, A Short History of Ely Cathedral, A Short History of St. Mary’s, Hitchin. In 1952, he authored his own book, The Dales Are Mine, copies of which are currently available on Abe Books and Amazon.

Examples of his work is in the collections of the Ashmolean, Bradford Museums and Galleries, Brooklyn Museum, Leeds Art Gallery and the V&A.

Image credits:
Annex galleries |

Designer Desire: John Petts

Montage of John Petts artworks | H is for Home

John Petts (1914-1991) was a London-born painter, wood engraver, lino-cutter and stained glass artist.

In 1937, Petts and his first wife, Brenda Chamberlain, (whom he met while they were both students at the Royal Academy) bought a hand press and founded Caseg Press at Ty’r mynydd, Llanllechid, Caenarvonshire. They drew on the dramatic landscape of Snowdonia for its inspiration. Initially, they produced Christmas cards and later illustrations for periodicals such as The Welsh Review (1939–1948).

Following a bombing in 1963 of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama by Ku Klux Klan members which killed four black girls attending Sunday school, Petts vowed to design and produce a replacement. After successfully raising funds from tens of thousands of people in Wales with the help of a front-page campaign by Western Mail newspaper, Petts delivered the finished window to the church in 1965.

Published in 2000, John Petts and the Caseg Press by Alison Smith is the first monograph of the artist.

In 1979, he designed the stained glass window, The Desert Shall Rejoice and Blossom followed by, in 1987, The Tree of Life both situated in the Church of St Peter, Carmarthen, Carmarthenshire.

Portrait of John Pettscredit

Additional image credits:

Art UK | Martin Tinney Gallery | Stained Glass in Wales

Designer Desire: Eric Fraser

Mosaic of Eric Fraser illustrations | H is for Home

Eric Fraser (1902-1983) was one of the leading lights of 20th century book & magazine illustration and poster design.

He was commissioned to produce illustrations by a range of magazines including Punch, Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue, Pall Mall and the Radio Times. He designed book covers and page illustrations for, amongst others, Collins, Cassell, Everyman, The Scientific Book Club and the Folio Society. He also designed posters (and stamps) for the Post Office; publicity material for the London Underground and in 1931, he created ‘Mr Therm’ for the Gas Light & Coke Company (the pre-cursor to British Gas).

There are a a couple of interesting-looking books about the man and his work; The Graphic Works of Eric Fraser by Alex Davies (1974) and Eric Fraser: Designer and Illustrator by Sylvia Backemeyer (1998). There’s also an exhibition catalogue – covering the entirety of his career – that you can view online here.

For the life of me I couldn’t find a single photo of the man – just this (small) self-portrait he did in 1949.

Self-portrait by Eric Frasercredit

Additional image credits:

Chris Beetles Gallery