Thursday 19 May 2011

Eric Fraser in Art and Industry


It’s over three years since my last post on the subject of Eric Fraser. In that time several more relevant items have surfaced including this feature from the magazine, Art and Industry dated May 1937 (Vol. 22, No. 131) written by R Haughton James. Interestingly the writer presents Fraser as a satirist and subversive reminding us that what appears in hindsight to be stylisation might have taken on a very different meaning for the contemporary audience. What is also striking is how an artist, notable for exquisite elegance of line and composition could occasionally produce an image of disturbing crudity. The cover design for Olaf Stapledon’s science-fiction novel of the übermensch, Odd John (1935) falls into that category for me. The latter plus three other examples of Fraser’s work in colour have been gleaned from the pages of various Penrose Annuals.











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