Claud Lovat Fraser; an unsung hero of British design
Claud Lovat Fraser by Marion Neilson (1913) National Portrait Gallery
Claud Lovat Fraser, almost always known as Lovat, is a one of the great unsung heroes of 20thC British design. He was 31 years old when he died – he was an extraordinarily prolific artist and produced hundreds of drawings, watercolours, cartoons, illustrations, painted scenery for theatre, posters and produced the design of toys and fabrics.
Lovat was born in London on May 15, 1890 to Florence Margaret Fraser, an amateur artist, and Claud Fraser, a city solicitor. He became an articled clerk at his father's law firm but left in 1911 to study at the Westminster School of Art under Walter Sickert. His first commission was contributing illustrations to a book of poetry ‘Flying Fame,’ (1913) by James Stephens. Lovat’s second commission was publication of his work in the art critic Haldane MacFall’s essay on art and aesthetics ‘The Splendid Wayfaring,’ also published in 1913.
‘A Scene at the Theatre.’ (1914)
Lovat’s individual style and high-keyed palette became his hallmark on the posters and costume and set-designs for Sir Nigel Playfair’s 1920 production of John Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith, the production ran for three years and amounted to 1,463 performances. But if you care to take a look online you will see Lovat was much more than a stylish graphic artist; his paintings of people are highly observant and intensely humane, his work is in direct descent from the finest French and English illustrators of the 19thC.
Poster for ‘The Beggar’s Opera.’ (1920)
Like many men of his period, Lovat enlisted to fight in WW1 and in 1914 trained in the Inns of Court Officer Training Corps and then the 14th Battalion of the Durham Light Infantry. He was poisoned during a chorine gas attack in 1916, served at the Battle of Loos and on the Ypres salient and later promoted to the rank of captain. While recovering from the effects of chlorine and shellshock, Lovat busied himself with plans for a pictorial history of the Grenadier Guards.
In 1917, he married the American actress Grace Inez Crawford and through her encouragement continued to be involved in theatrical and costume design
‘Doctor Foster,’ from ‘Nursery Rhymes with Pictures,’ by Claud Lovat Fraser (1919)
Successive Medical Board Reviews continued to find Lovat unfit to be send back to France and instead he served on the Home Front as an officer in the Army Pay Corps and later in Whitehall at the War Office on visual propaganda from October 1916 until late April 1917 and at the Army Record Office at Hounslow until his discharge in March 1919.
Grace and Lovat became close friends with the artist Paul Nash and his wife Margaret, often holidaying with them. When Nash and Margaret moved to Pan Tile Cottage at Dymchurch on the Kent coast so Nash could recover from the severe breakdown after his experiences during WW1, Lovat and Grace spent a summer holiday with them. It was during this break, Lovat was taken seriously ill and died.
Soon after Lovat’s death, Nash visited his late friend’s parents in Buntingford in Hertfordshire and later in 1922 made the engraving below, this served as the design for the oil painting 'The Lake', made the following year.
