Biography

Blair Hughes-Stanton was one of the most technically accomplished artists of his time, creating fine engravings rarely rivalled. Born in London in 1902, he studied at The Byam Shaw Art School, The Royal Academy Schools and at The Leon Underwood School of Painting and Sculpture between 1919 and 1924. Although an accomplished painter, he excelled as a wood-engraver and became one of the most significant book illustrators and designers of the 1920′s and 30′s. Hughes-Stanton specialised in the illustration and the production of illustrated books for small scale publishers such as The Golden Cockerel Press, The Cresset Press, The Greynog Press and his own Gemini Press. He counted D.H. Lawrence among his friends and made engravings for several of his works. Following the Second World War, during which he was captured and became a prisoner of war first in Crete, where he was severely wounded, and later in eastern Germany, he moved to Manningtree and taught at The Colchester School of Art (1945-7), St Martin’s (1947-8) and later for many years at the Central. In later life, lino-engravings became his preferred method of printmaking. Hughes-Stanton died in 1981. The Minories Art Gallery in Colchester organised a retrospective exhibition of his works in 1984.