Tuesday 19 October 2010

Forgotten illustrators; Paul Hogarth ( 1917-2001)

This is the first in an occasional series of profiles I have decided to start about "forgotten" illustrators. When I get blank looks on the mention of an illustrator's name I will probably add them to this list. Paul Hogarth is someone most current students (in my experience) have never heard of.
Back in the eighties as a design  student in Manchester Paul Hogarth was one of the illustrators I took for granted. His work had adorned the covers of Shakespeare in paperback when I was at school, and the novels of Graham Greene when I was catching up on some reading from the library. 
When I was studying illustration his work was everywhere, not only in the Manchester Polytechnic collection I seem to remember.His prints seemed to be on sale everywhere, particularly through the Francis Kyle Gallery, whose posters appeared on the Poly noticeboard, and I am sure I remember them on sale at Habitat?
His reportage work appeared in magazines and in books celebrating Graham Greene country, Gerald Durrell country, and John Betjeman country. Originally from Kendal, Cumbria/ Westmorland, he had studied at Manchester Art School, though not especially celebrated by the students when I was there, he was eventually honoured by the Met in 1999. 
He was a prolific and successful illustrator. He was an excellent draughtsman, and watercolour painter whose "descriptive" work especially of buildings and landscape are light and characterful. 
He led an interesting life too, described as an "angry young man", a left winger he ran off to join the Spanish Civil War aged 17. Later still he painted camouflage during WW2.. 
He travelled extensively and this formed the basis for much of his observationally-based work. His autobiography is entitled Drawing on Life.







1 comment:

David Apatoff said...

Hogarth was quite a distinctive talent, and you have captured him well. I hate to think of him as "forgotten."