Arthur Wragg’s Argo album covers

Throughout much of Argo’s life, Arthur Wragg contributed illustrations for the label’s LP covers.

A committed socialist, Christian and pacifist (he was a conscientious objector during World War II), Wragg is probably best known for his acerbic contemporary illustrations of biblical texts in his ‘Psalms for Modern Life’ (Selwyn & Blount 1933), ‘Jesus Wept’ (Selwyn & Blount 1937) and ‘The Lord’s Prayer in Black and White’ (Cape 1946).

To check out some of his work, click here.

Wragg (1903-76) seems to me to be ridiculously under-appreciated. Maybe because his art was for popular consumption and only ever saw the light of day in publications (books, magazines and adverts). That’s probably why there isn’t a catalogue in existence of his work and the only serious appreciation of his life as an illustrator, cartoonist. commercial artist and designer is Judy Brook’s 2001 Arthur Wragg – 20th Century Artist, Prophet and Jester.

So I thought I’d begin to gather together in one place the fantastic album covers he worked on for Argo right up to the time of his death – work that was a bit of a lifeline for Wragg in his later years.

There are loads of gaps to be filled, in particular his illustrations for the label’s complete recordings of the Shakespeare plays and Argo’s The Poet Speaks series, so if you’ve got any that aren’t here (or have got cleaner versions than the ones I’m using), take a photo and send me a copy please. (thanks to David Harding, who did just that)

For the fastidious, some of the Shakespeare covers I’ve used are from re-releases from the 1970s, but I’m pretty sure they are the same as the original illustrations in all cases.

	1953 W. R. Rodgers – Europa and the Bull Argo RG 12
	1954 Dylan Thomas – Under Milk Wood Argo RG 21-2 (Argo issued this album with two different covers under the RG series – one by Olga Lehmann and this one by Wragg. Don’t know if they were available simultaneously. Wragg’s version was still being used for re-releases in the 1970s under the PLP series.)
	1954 Coleridge – The Rime of the Ancient Mariner Argo RG 41
	1958 Robert Speaight reads poems by Gray, Goldsmith, Collins Argo RG 119
	1958 Shakespeare – Othello Argo RG 121-4
	1958 Shakespeare – As You Like It Argo RG 125-7
	1958 Shakespeare – Troilus & Cressida Argo RG 128-31
	1958 Shakespeare – Julius Caesar Argo RG 132-4
	1958 Shakespeare – Coriolanus Argo RG 135-8
	1958 Shakespeare – Richard II Argo RG 139-41
	1958 Music for the Feast of Christmas Argo RG 148
	1959 Victoria – Responsories for Tenebrae Argo RG 149
	1959 Shakespeare – The Merchant of Venice Argo RG 160-63
	1959 Shakespeare – Measure for Measure Argo RG 164-7
	1959 Shakespeare – King John Argo RG 168-71
	1959 Shakespeare – The Two Gentlemen of Verona Argo RG 172-4
	1959 Shakespeare – Macbeth Argo RG 175-7
	1959  A Festival of Lessons & Carols Argo RG 190
	1960 Shakespeare – Romeo & Juliet Argo RG 200-3
	1960 Shakespeare – The Winter’s Tale Argo RG 204-7
	1960 Shakespeare – Henry IV, part I Argo RG 208-11
	1960 Shakespeare – Henry IV part II Argo RG 212-5
	1960 Shakespeare – The Tempest Argo RG 216-8
	1960 Bach – St John Passion Argo RG 270-2
	1961 Shakespeare – A Midsummer Night’s Dream Argo RG 250-2
	1961 Shakespeare – Hamlet Argo RG 256-60
	1962 Shakespeare – Henry V Argo RG 261-4
	1961 Shakespeare – King Lear Argo RG 280-3
	1961 Shakespeare – Twelfth Night Argo RG 284-6
	1962 Scenes from Shakespeare – The Tragedies Vol 1 Argo DA 1
	1962 Scenes from Shakespeare – The Histories Vol 1 Argo DA 3
	1962 Shakespeare – Much Ado About Nothing Argo RG 300-2
	1962 Shakespeare – Anthony & Cleopatra Argo RG 307-10
	1962 Shakespeare – The Comedy of Errors Argo RG 311-2
	1962 Shakespeare – Love’s Labour’s Lost Argo RG 313-5
	1962 Stainer – The Crucifixion Argo RG 320
	1963 Shakespeare – Venus and Adonis Argo RG 336-7
	1963 Shakespeare – The Merry Wives of Windsor Argo RG 351-3
	1963 Shakespeare – All’s Well That Ends Well Argo RG 354-6
	1963 Tippett – A Child of Our Time Argo DA 19-20
	1964 Shakespeare – Henry VI, Part I Argo RG 386-8 (re-released as ZPR 161-3)
	1964 Shakespeare – Henry VI, Part II Argo RG 389-92 (re-released as ZPR 164-7)
	1964 Shakespeare – Richard III Argo RG 407-10
	1964 Shakespeare – Pericles Argo RG 411-13
	1966 The Elizabethan Singers – Carols of Today Argo ZRG 5499
	1966 The Happy Prince (children’s opera) Argo NF 5
	1968 Clive Sansom – The Witnesses Argo DA 87
	1968 Emlyn Williams – Dylan Thomas, A Boy Growing Up  Argo RG 546-7
	1968 A Meditation on Christ’s Nativity Argo RG 550
	1968 Handel – Ode for St Cecilia’s Day Argo RG 563
	1968 Brahms – Motets and Chorale Preludes Argo RG 571
	1969 Late Victorian Poetry Argo RG 588
	1971 Shakespeare – As You Like It Argo ZPR 180-2 (this was a new recording of the play with a different cast from the 1958 version above)
	1972 Shakespeare – Richard II Argo ZPR (I’m not sure why a new cover was issued for this play, unless it’s a completely new recording – something I haven’t been able to establish. See 1958 cover for Richard II above)
	1972 Rudyard Kipling – Just So Stories Vol 1 Argo SW 512-3
	1976 Peggy Ashcroft & Martin Best – Sense & Nonsense Argo SW 532
	1975 Glenda Jackson – The Secret Garden Argo ZSW 543-6
	1976 Oscar Wilde – The Happy Prince & The Star Child Argo ZSW 547
	1976 Oscar Wilde – The Selfish Giant Argo ZSW 548

 

~ by folkcatalogue on March 3, 2011.