# Lawson Wood artist context and auction value notes Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/lawson-wood/ Profile generated: 2026-05-10T02:13:00.000Z Quality: high confidence, strong sources ## Artist identity - Birth date: 1878-08-23 - Death date: 1957-10-26 - Nationality: English, British - Movements: British humorous illustration - Common media: watercolor, oil painting, ink drawing, postcard illustration ## About Lawson Wood Clarence Lawson Wood (1878–1957) was an English painter, illustrator, and designer celebrated for his humorous and animal-themed artwork. Born in Highgate, London, he trained at the Slade School of Fine Art, Heatherley's School of Fine Art, and Frank Calderon's School of Animal Painting. After working on the staff of publisher C. Arthur Pearson from 1896 to 1902, Wood established a prolific freelance career. His illustrations appeared in leading periodicals including Punch, The Strand Magazine, The Graphic, The Illustrated London News, and Boys Own Paper. Wood is best known for his character Gran'pop, a mischievous ginger ape that starred in its own series of annuals from 1936 to 1950 and was syndicated in magazines such as Collier's. His work spans humorous illustration, caricature, animal painting, and postcard art, making him one of the most recognizable British illustrators of the early-to-mid twentieth century. ## Common works and media Wood's output includes original watercolor paintings, ink and wash illustrations, oil paintings, magazine cover art, interior story illustrations, postcard designs (particularly humorous and wartime series), book illustrations, and the annual Gran'pop volumes published between 1936 and 1950. Caricature, anthropomorphic animals—especially primates—and domestic humor are recurring subjects across all media. Collectors most frequently encounter his original drawings and published postcards at auction. ## Market and appraisal context Lawson Wood's auction market is active and broadly distributed: 261 total lots recorded between December 2000 and January 2026, with 119 carrying realized prices. Price dispersion is wide—ranging from £5 at the low end (postcards, cigarette cards, small prints) to £5,534 at the high—reflecting the breadth of his output from ephemera to original watercolours. The median price sits at approximately £600, with the interquartile range spanning roughly £360–£956. Original watercolours, especially his signature anthropomorphic primate golfing and sporting scenes, consistently achieve the upper band: £450–£750 at UK regional houses such as Gorringes and Michael J Bowman. Printed multiples—postcards, cigarette cards, circus advertising signs, and coloured prints—trade between £30 and £150, often at specialist ephemera or book auction houses. Major houses including Christie's, Bonhams, and Heritage Auctions appear in the top-ten house list, confirming institutional recognition. Liquidity is moderate: 6 lots in the most recent 12 months and 9 in the prior 12 months indicate steady but not high-frequency turnover, consistent with a collected but specialised illustrators' market. ## Auction-house-backed market evidence Lawson Wood's auction market is active and broadly distributed: 261 total lots recorded between December 2000 and January 2026, with 119 carrying realized prices. Price dispersion is wide—ranging from £5 at the low end (postcards, cigarette cards, small prints) to £5,534 at the high—reflecting the breadth of his output from ephemera to original watercolours. The median price sits at approximately £600, with the interquartile range spanning roughly £360–£956. Original watercolours, especially his signature anthropomorphic primate golfing and sporting scenes, consistently achieve the upper band: £450–£750 at UK regional houses such as Gorringes and Michael J Bowman. Printed multiples—postcards, cigarette cards, circus advertising signs, and coloured prints—trade between £30 and £150, often at specialist ephemera or book auction houses. Major houses including Christie's, Bonhams, and Heritage Auctions appear in the top-ten house list, confirming institutional recognition. Liquidity is moderate: 6 lots in the most recent 12 months and 9 in the prior 12 months indicate steady but not high-frequency turnover, consistent with a collected but specialised illustrators' market. ### Appraisal notes An Appraisily appraisal for a Lawson Wood work would cross-reference the Appraisily auction-record index (261 lots, 119 priced) against the specific piece's medium, dimensions, signature, condition, and provenance. Key steps: (1) confirm whether the item is an original watercolour/gouache, an ink drawing, an oil painting, or a printed reproduction—this single distinction drives the largest price difference; (2) compare subject matter against the most comparable recent lots (e.g., sporting-primate watercolours at Gorringes, Lyon & Turnbull, and Dawsons); (3) adjust for condition, framing, and any documented publication or exhibition history linked to Punch, The Strand Magazine, or the Gran'pop annuals; (4) for prints and postcards, assess edition, completeness of sets, and era (wartime 1914–1918 postcards versus later Gran'pop merchandise); (5) note currency—sales span GBP, USD, EUR, and AUD, so currency normalisation is necessary for cross-market comparison. ### Valuation factors - Medium: original watercolours and gouache paintings command the highest prices (£360–£750 median band); prints, postcards, and ephemera typically realise £30–£150. - Subject: anthropomorphic primates in sporting or domestic scenes (golf, tennis, hunting) are Wood's most sought-after subjects and outperform other themes. - Attribution: Wood's large output of printed multiples means authentication of 'original versus reproduction' is the single most consequential value factor. - Condition: works on paper (watercolours, ink drawings) should be assessed for foxing, fading, mount burn, and framing quality; condition materially affects price at the upper band. - Provenance: documentation linking a work to a specific publication (Punch, The Strand Magazine, Collier's) or the Gran'pop annual series adds collector interest. - Set completeness: cigarette cards, collectors' cards, and postcard series are valued higher as complete or near-complete sets. - Market liquidity: moderate turnover (6–9 lots per year) means selling may require patience; specialist illustration-art and ephemera auctions tend to yield better results than general sales. ### Collector notes ### Market caveats - Price distribution spans £5 to £5,534 across 119 priced lots; the median (£600) should not be applied to prints or ephemera, which cluster well below the 25th percentile. - Many recent lots (especially at Gorringes and Dawsons) show null price-realised, indicating either unsold lots or data lag; the actual clearing rate may differ from the priced subset. - Sales are denominated in GBP, USD, EUR, and AUD across different markets; direct price comparison requires currency normalisation to a single unit. - The Appraisily auction-record index aggregates data from multiple auction-data providers and may include buyer's premiums in some lots and hammer prices in others. - Wood's prolific output across magazines, postcards, annuals, advertisements, and original art means attribution should be confirmed for each lot; unsigned works attributed to Wood should carry lower confidence. ### Market evidence sources - undefined: https://appraisily.com/api/scraper-search/artists/lawson-wood/seo-profile?recentLimit=24&relatedLimit=0 - undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-lawson-wood-british-1878-1957-monkey-riding-an-elephant-print-103-c-e7c46baad3 - undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-lawson-wood-british-1878-1957-the-19th-hole-watercolour-34-5-x-25cm-102-c-d984aaa991 - undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-lawson-wood-british-1878-1957-a-bonny-game-watercolour-40-x-30-5cm-101-c-e754d31aca - undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-lawson-wood-british-1878-1957-in-the-rough-watercolour-35-x-25cm-100-c-1154cfb956 - undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-set-of-players-cards-1926-and-1930-s-collectors-cards-by-carreras-grand-pop-by-lawson-wood-611-c-a41ddf3259 - undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-rare-vintage-1943-ringling-bros-and-barnum-bailey-madison-circus-cardboard-stand-up-easel-back-advertising-sign-by-lawson-wood-132-c-c6945cd8f5 - undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-lawson-wood-british-1878-1957-monkey-riding-an-elephant-print-573-c-4504685877 ## Appraisily data basis Appraisily artist pages combine artist identity research from authority files and institutional databases with available auction records, sale dates, realized prices, comparable lots, and auction-house context. For Lawson Wood, identity data is sourced from Wikidata, the Library of Congress Name Authority File, VIAF, and the RKD Netherlands Institute for Art History. Market assessments draw on Invaluable auction records and published reference entries from Bénézit and Johnson/Greutzner. ## Sources - Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1421536 - Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawson_Wood - VIAF: https://viaf.org/viaf/70458965/ - Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n87893523 - RKD Netherlands Institute for Art History: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/85505