Arthur Wragg was born near Manchester in 1903, and studied at Sheffield School of Art from about 1916. In 1923 Wragg moved to London and worked as a magazine illustrator, contributing to Nash’s Magazine, Sunday Magazine, Woman’s Journal, Woman’s Pictorial and others. However he is perhaps best known for his books with religious themes published by Selwyn & Blount – such as Jesus Wept (1935). A pacifist, Wragg joined the Peace Pledge Union in 1935 and contributed regularly to Peace News. He also drew posters for the PPU and others.
Wragg’s work influenced that of the Hungarian-born illustrator Val Biro, whom he met when Biro worked as Production Manager and Art Director for the publishers C.& J.Temple, from 1946 to 1948. At that time Wragg was illustrating Moll Flanders for the company. By 1961 Wragg was contributing political cartoons to the Sunday Pictorial. Arthur Wragg died in London on 17 August 1976. The Times commented that “his friends in all sectors of society feel today that their lives are the poorer for the loss of his tolerance, wisdom and kindly humour.”