Philip Hagreen (12 July 1890 – 5 February 1988) was a wood engraver who was active at the beginning of the twentieth century.
[1] He was at his most active in the early 1920s and virtually all his wood engravings proper, as opposed to woodcuts, date from this period.
Campbell Dodgson, Keeper of Prints and Drawings at the British Museum, wrote about him in his introduction to the book: Mr. Hagreen and Mr. Dickey are among the engravers who rely very much upon the effective use of white lines and spaces.
[6] Salaman reproduced The Dawn in his Studio anthology, and wrote Mr. Philip Hagreen's woodcuts interpret light and landscape with an emotional simplicity that gives them poetic distinction.
He went on to illustrate The Golden Ass of Lucius Apuleius (1924) and The Devil On Two Sticks (1927) by Rene Le Sage; he also produced a poster for London Underground in 1923.
[9] He learnt the art of lettering from Gill and helped him carve the Stations of the Cross for Saint Cuthbert's Church, Bradford.
[9] He shared a workshop with David Jones and played a full part in the communal life of the guild, where a great deal of time was spent in the chapel.
He also began to produce woodcuts, using pearwood blocks and knives and special tools that he invented himself; most of his print production was of bookplates and cuts for practical purposes.