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Vera Bock's illustrations for A Ring and a Riddle by M. Ilin and E. Segal, published in 1944.

dust jacket

title page spread

detail

detail

detail

isolated drop caps

Vera Bock made posters for the WPA, and thank God Posters for the People provides this great bio (if only I could find such bios for all the illustrators in my collection):

At the onset of the Russian Revolution Vera Bock [b. 1905] emigrated to the United States with her mother, Russian-born concert pianist, and her father, an American banker. Her art education included trips to Europe, where she studied drawing and painting, and a year's stay in England during which she learned printing, photoengraving, manuscript illuminating, and wood engraving.

In 1922 she began to work as a book illustrator with two children's books, Ella Young's The Tangle-Coated Horse and Waldemer Bonsels' The Adventure of Maya Bee. Throughout her career she illustrated children's books and many of these drawings are housed in the Kerlan Collection of Children's Literature at the University of Minnesota.

Vera Bock's silkscreen posters are notable for their distinctive woodblock-like appearance. Strong, solid forms, often Germanic in influence, dominate her designs. Her formation in book design and illustration is apparent in her series of posters, History of Civic Services. In these designs, numerous human figures share space with well-educated typography, suggesting a quality of wonder often associated with children's books.

She was affiliated with the FAP from 1936 to 1939 as a member of the New York City poster division. During the 1940s she worked as an illustrator at Life and Coronet magazines. She continued to produce book illustration and design including Little Magic Horse (1942), A Ring and A Riddle (1944), and Critical History of Children's Literature (1953).

Her work has been included in exhibitions at The New York Public Library (1942), The Art Director's Club (1946), "The International Exhibition of Illustrated Books" (The Pierpont Morgan Library, 1946), and "Ten Year's of American Illustration" (The New York Public Library, 1951).

Permanent link: https://50watts.com/#1489298/A-Ring-and-a-Riddle