Stanley Wood
An English Illustrator
Stanley Wood was a prolific illustrator of British newsmagazines during the Great War. His style appears to have a lot in common with later pulp fiction novel covers and comic book covers. It is quite hectic and full of dramatically moving people with exagerrated facial expressions. The Germans have a dastardly look about them and the gallant Allies appear determined and heroic in the battlescenes, jolly and good-natured in his comic scenes. Stanley Wood was also a talented illustrator of horses, a most difficult subject to master. In many of the following works, horses play a central and dramatic or endearing role.
Many of his illustrations appeared as cover art for the cheap working class newsmagazine 'The War Illustrated'. They were printed in grey tone on low quality paper and are subsequently at times difficult to reproduce as graphics. Since his work was not considered to be quite up to serious academic standards, it was not much used in later multi-volume histories of the war nor is he mentioned in any of the modern-day books on the subject of Great War illustrating. Few color reproductions of his illustrations are to be found, although judging from the instance above, they were undoubtedly quite colorful.
Here follows a more or less representative selection of his illustrative work taken from war-time magazines.
