DAVID GENTLEMAN is one of Britain's leading
artists and designers. His work has included
lithographs, woodcuts, watercolours, designs for
postage stamps, posters, logos for large business
and other organisations (such as British Steel
and the National Trust), book illustration and
murals; his books of watercolours and drawings of
countries and places around the world demonstrate
his wide interest in landscape and
architecture.
David Gentleman was born 11 March
1930. He spent his early years in Hertford with
his artistic family (his mother was a painter and
his father was head of the design department at
Shell). In 1948/9 he was called-up for National
Service, most of that time being spent in the
Army Education Corps School of Education in
Bodmin, Cornwall. As sergeant in charge of the
art room his talents were called upon for various
tasks one of which was the design and painting of
a large mural in the Sergeants Mess depicting
Cornish life. Gentleman is shown (left) in army
uniform in Truro, Cornwall prior to an orchestral
concert (details here) in the Cathedral
on 14 May 1949.
The drawing (below right) by David
Gentleman in 1949 shows the single track steam
railway from Bodmin GWR Station to Bodmin Road
(now known as Parkway) as it passes the Army
School of Education. The guard room is at bottom
left. Note the 'BR' on the side of the
engine, an abbreviation of 'British
Railways', the national amalgamation of four
major private railway companies into one
government controlled system that
had taken place just a year or so earlier. The
branch line was closed as a result of the 1963
Beeching plan for 'rationalisation' of
the railways but later reopened by a local
preservation society. Steam trains continue to
give pleasure to tourists and enthusiasts on what
is now known as the Bodmin and Wenford Railway.
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Following service in the army,
Gentleman studied at St Alban's Art School
and the Royal College of Art in London. In
the early 1960s he and five other artists
received invitations from the Post Office to
design three stamps for National Productivity
Year. His set of designs was chosen for printing
and distribution. From
then on he became much in demand for further
designs. His stamps for the Shakespeare Festival
(1964), the Death of Winston Churchill (1965),
Christmas (1973 and 1989), Concorde debut (1969),
Charles Darwin Anniversary (1982) up to the
Millennium Timekeeping set in 1999 are but a part
of his total output of over one hundred designs.
His design which incorporated swastikas and iron
crosses on some of the Battle of Britain 25th
Anniverary (1965) stamps met with some opposition. In
an interview, David
Gentleman explained, "The Foreign Office
said they would harm Anglo-German relations. Tony
Benn, then Postmaster General, said that this was
nonsense - battles were about adversaries, not
friendly relations - and the swastikas and Iron
Crosses stayed on the stamps!". Other projects have been a 100
metre mural at the Charing Cross Underground
station in 1979, stamp design in Papua-New Guinea
and jackets for Penguin Books. David lives and works in Camden
Town, London and has a 'country retreat'
in Suffolk.
David Gentleman at The Stamp Show 2000 in London,
May 2000. (Photograph taken by Larry Rosenblum)
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Mevagissey Harbour 1949 (Author's collection)
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David Gentleman has produced several profusely
illustrated books, with his own entertaining
commentary, as a result of his travels in
Britain, France Italy and India. The example on
the right, 'Mevagissey', is from
'David Gentleman's Britain' (produced
in 1982 and still in print).
With acknowledgement to David Gentleman and the
publishers, George Weidenfield and Nicholson,
London.
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The harbour at Mevagissey in 1969 (Author's
collection)
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