John Lawrence (b.1933)
John Lawrence was born in Hastings and trained at Hastings Art School from 1951 to 1953. After two years National service in West Africa he attended the Central School of Arts and Crafts, where he was introduced to wood engraving by Gertrude Hermes, graduating in 1957. He went on to teach at Brighton College of Art until l968, and at Camberwell School of Art for over thirty years until 1993. He subsequently taught for many years at the Anglia Ruskin School of Art, Cambridge APU, living nearby with his wife Myra. In 1990 he served as Master of the Artworkers’ Guild and is also a member of the Royal Society of Painter Printmakers, Society of Wood Engravers, and the Double Crown Club.
As an illustrator John Lawrence has worked extensively and diversely gaining a world-wide reputation. Books as both author and illustrator include Good Babies, Bad Babies and the cockney rhyming slang, Rabbit and Pork. Twice winner of the Francis Williams Award for illustration, (sponsored by The Victoria and Albert Museum, and twice runner-up for the Kurt Emil Maschler Award, he has illustrated for both adults and children. As well as an engraver he is a gifted water colourist. His works are included in collections as the V & A in London, The Ashmolean Museum, Oxford as well as public and private collections in the USA. A classic English illustrator, he is probably the most eminent engraver of his generation. John is pictured here with his friend Philip Pullman, signing copies of Northern Lights, The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass at Illustrationcupboard, London
