Blair Hughes-Stanton

Blair Hughes-Stanton
Captain Blair Hughes-Stanton in 1942 or 1943
Born	22 February 1902 Kensington, London, England
Died	6 June 1981
Nationality	British
Known for	wood engraving
Spouse(s)	Gertrude Hermes

Blair Rowlands Hughes-Stanton (22 February 1902 – 6 June 1981) was a major figure in the English wood engraving revival in the twentieth century. He was the son of the artist Sir Herbert Hughes-Stanton. He exhibited with the Society of Wood Engravers, but was more in sympathy with the philosophy of the English Wood Engraving Society, of which he was a founding member in 1925. He co-directed the Gregynog Press from 1930 to 1933 with his wife, Gertrude Hermes.

At the age of 13 Hughes-Stanton, unable to face the prospect of home life with his three sisters, joined the Royal Navy training ship HMS Coway. At the age of 19 he switched direction completely after a conversation with his father, the Royal Academician Sir Herbert Hughes-Stanton, and joined the Byam Shaw School of Art. There he came under the influence of Leon Underwood and, in 1921, he moved to Underwood's Brook Green School. In 1922 he joined the Royal Academy Schools, but Underwood remained the dominant influence on him. At Brook Green the American wood engraver Marion Mitchell introduced him to wood engraving, which set the direction of his life. Underwood and he were kindred spirits, to such an extent that, in 1925, Underwood left Hughes-Stanton in charge of the Brook Green School when he went to America.

Hughes-Stanton met Eric Kennington, who introduced him to T. E. Lawrence. Hughes-Stanton was commissioned to engrave ten tail-pieces for the monumental limited edition of The Seven Pillars of Wisdom (1926). Some extra special copies had a full-page engraving by Hughes-Stanton for the dedicatory poem to "S.A.".