[John Farleigh, wood engraver.] Wood-engraving of naked black girl with African man with garland of flowers around his groin, in same style as those for Bernard Shaw's 'Adventures of the Black Girl in her Search for God'. Apparently unpublished.

Printed in black on one side of piece of 33 x 20 cm thick paper [full page containg image, 20 x 13cm]. Dimensions of print 23 x 13.5 cm [largest image in book, 15 x 9.5cm] . In good condition, on lightly aged and creased paper, with slight foxing. The image depicts: on the left, and extending the height of the print, an athletically-built black man, naked but for wreaths of flowers across his brow and his groin, penis and scrotum evident, leaning forward to proffer a flower to a naked black girl (the "Black Girl in Search", 17cm high), viewed from the back, whose left arm is raised, while her right is behind her back, holding a flower. According to Farleigh's entry in the Oxford DNB, he 'achieved wide acclaim and recognition for his illustrations to The Adventures of the Black Girl in her Search for God, written by George Bernard Shaw and published by Constable in 1932. Shaw commissioned Farleigh after requesting a trial drawing and was closely involved in the designs. Farleigh duly acknowledged Shaw's input in his partly autobiographical work Graven Image (1940) where he gave a detailed account of the progress of the book. Shaw's witty, satirical text, and Farleigh's quasi-erotic depictions of the African girl, ‘a fine creature, whose satin skin and shining muscles made the missionary folk seem like ashen ghosts’ (Shaw, The Black Girl, 1932, 8), guaranteed its success. The first edition of 25,000 copies, priced inexpensively at 2s. 6d., was sold immediately. This was the first mass-produced book of the period to contain wood-engravings and it was effective in popularizing the medium for commercial book illustration as well as for the private presses.' No information has been found concerning this woodcut in Farleigh's "Graven Image" or elsewhere but one reviewer found "sexual symbolism" which he didn't know if Farleigh was aware of (!) ("Graven Image", p.268. Recalling how a character in "Happy Days" (set in the 'fifties) could only find images of naked or near naked women in National Geographic African scenes, could "Adventures" have provided pin-ups suited to its era! But the naked black man may have been a step too far. Any information welcome. White space of image on file slightly clipped.