David Gentleman: Stamp of approval

The very first designer that I wrote about in my Heroes series in Design Week, was David Gentleman. Of all the graphic designers I have met and admired, Gentleman stands out. Why? Quite simply he is the most self contained and individual ‘signature’ designer living in the UK. His work is instantly recognisable. He has never had an assistant and has always worked from his home. He is the epitome of the classic freelance graphic designer and has never deviated from that. I have enormous admiration for him and his extraordinary talent and body of work. Here is the a rerun of the interview I had with him back in 2001 along with an updated post script.

Stamp of approval

You rarely see his name on the pages of a British Design & Art Direction Annual, but the chances are that at some point over the past four decades, you and your family would have performed the very intimate act of licking the back of one of his designs.

Gentleman at his home studio in Camden

He is David Gentleman - our most prolific and distinguished stamp designer and much, much more. I first, became aware of his work in 1965, when I saw a set of stamps commemorating the Battle of Britain. I hasten to add that this was not out of a fanatical interest in philately - I was simply struck by the dynamic quality of the design on such a small format. I had to have a set...

I discovered they had been designed by Gentleman. He immediately became a hero to me. From that point on, I followed his career with keen interest and a great deal of envy.

Over 35 years later, I walked through the bustle of Camden Town market on my way to interview him. We sat in the sitting room of his elegant Georgian town house, sun streaming in through its long windows, surrounded by the comfort of books and paintings. I asked if the creative gene had been evident in his family. He pointed to several beautiful paintings that graced the walls. As it turned out, both of his parents had trained as fine artists at the Glasgow School of Art in the 1920s. His mother, Winifred, produced sensitive oils of interiors and still-lives very reminiscent of the work of Gwen John. After she married, there was a brief spell producing magazine illustrations. When the children came along, she packed her brushes and oils away to concentrate on raising her young family.

His father, Tom, moved from fine art to the commercial world in order to achieve a more stable income. Very quickly he demonstrated the same creative versatility that his son would inherit many years later. Tom worked as a political cartoonist and produced posters...

Designed and illustrated by David's father, Tom Gentleman, produced in the 1940's as part of the School Prints series. 

He was employed by several ad agencies, including Crawfords, where he worked alongside Ashley Havinden and the pivotal E McKnight Kauffer. During World War II he moved to the Ministry of Information, working with Sir Misha Black and Milner Gray. Post-war, he joined Shell-Mex as an in-house art director and designer. ln his free time he wrote and illustrated Brae Farm - a charming book about his childhood experiences on the Clyde. His work was also selected for one of the famous School Print artist poster series, published in 1946. He died in 1966, just a few months after Winifred.

It is not surprising against this highly stimulating backdrop that the young Gentleman began wielding a pencil with great confidence to record the world around him. In 1948 he served his compulsory spell in the army attached to the Art Education Department, where, among other things, he painted murals. After this he studied at St Albans School of Art. In 1950 he was awarded a place at the Royal College of Art.

For the first year he studied the relatively new subject of graphic design under Abram Games. He decided to move to the illustration department. There, under the wing of Edward Bawden, he was able to exploit his drawing talent and expand into new areas of interest. The early 1950s were a period when the RCA departments were less rigid, and a more relaxed approach enabled students to crossover to other departments and experiment. Gentleman found himself rubbing shoulders with artists John Bratby, Leon Kossoff and Frank Auerbach. The RCA was also a natural reservoir for talent. Penguin Books had a good relationship with the college, often commissioning work from students and tutors. Gentleman was singled-out by Hans Smoller, Penguin's art editor. He was commissioned to design the covers and illustrate the text for a number of books.

The first of these was Plats du Jour (1957 above), a handbook of the delights of foreign food. This was the beginning of a long and fruitful association with Penguin Books. Gentleman stayed on at the RCA for a short while after graduating, working as a junior tutor alongside Richard Guyatt. Commissions started to increase, mostly from publishing in the UK and in the US, but he also produced engraved illustrations for various ad agencies. These were to top or tail press ads. This style of illustration ideally suited the letterpress printing of newspapers and magazines of the day.

In the early 1960s, he started working with his most enduring client, The Royal Mail. This was a time when stamp design had to incorporate a large photographic portrait of the Queen and was not particularly sympathetic to a modern approach to stamp design. The Royal Mail Stamp Advisory Committee of that time, chaired by Sir Kenneth Clarke, were a rather conservative group and preferred the overwhelming presence of the Queen on stamps.

All that was to change. In 1964, Tony Benn became Postmaster General. He was keen to reinvent the postage stamp and source views from the general public. Gentleman wrote to Benn outlining his vision for a new approach to British stamp design.

This led to several meetings with Benn, who showed a remarkable interest in and understanding of design - a rarity in a politician. Benn and Gentleman collaborated in plotting a new direction for British stamp design. In doing so they effected the resignation of Clarke, and with him the Stamp Advisory Committee, who found the design proposals distasteful.

  
  
The approach found favour with the Queen - who still has approval of all British stamps issued - including the greatly reduced and silhouetted portrait of herself. This resulted in the design of many stamp sets by Gentleman continuing to this day. At the last count he had clocked up a staggering 103 published stamps.

Gentleman's design contributuion to the 1999 Millennium stamp issue 

His 1964 set, celebrating the Shakespeare Festival, was no doubt the catalyst for Smoller at Penguin Books approaching him to redesign the covers for the entire Shakespeare series in 1968. It was this series of over 30 covers that enabled Gentleman to perfect his engraving technique and produce some of his finest work in this area.

 

They used simple, flat block-colour overprinting on to black engravings. This was complemented by Gentleman's favourite typeface, Helvetica Bold, for the titles. For me, they look even better now, some 30-odd years later. Like a good wine, some designs improve with age.

The largest and most dramatic example of Gentleman's engraving work can be found in London's Charing Cross Underground station. It is an illustrated frieze depicting the story of the 13th century construction of the first Charing Cross...

 This spans the entire length of the station platforms and is a wonderful example of the ancient skill of wood engraving reinvented through modern eyes. The graphic grouping of figures and objects, beautifully balanced, is a particular gift Gentleman has. His ability as a pure graphic designer can be seen in his 1968 logo design for the British Steel Corporation...

 This was used for over 30 years until last year, when British Steel Corporation became Corus. It perfectly expresses the characteristics of a powerful industrial process with great economy. This, in my view, makes it one of the great marks of the 20th century.

Over the years, Gentleman has built up a small, but highly prestigious client list. The National Trust commissioned him to design its now familiar logo and produce posters to promote its more unusual properties...

Three posters from a series produced for the National Trust in 1974

 In 1975 he was asked to design a series of posters to alert the public about the potential plan to run a by-pass through the centre of the historic Petworth Park in West Sussex, a favourite backdrop for many of Turner's paintings. These are still very powerful statements...

Gentleman in protest mode. From 1976.
 

His architectural illustrations came to the notice of The Sunday Times and he was commissioned to create a series of full-page images to accompany a weekly feature on the future of modern architecture. Gentleman continued to record buildings that interested him in and around London. These colourwash and ink drawings found a new outlet with the established fine art printer, The Curwen Press. The first set of prints produced in 1968 were landscapes of the British countryside. These proved to be very popular and The Curwen Press went on to produce 92 prints over the years.

It was inevitable with such an interest in recording buildings and the countryside that a book would be the next logical step in his career. This led to a publishing contract with Weidenfeld & Nicolson, and was the beginning of Gentleman's very personal illustrated travel books. The first of these, David Gentleman's Britain, was published in 1982. Six books later, you can see the passion that he feels for buildings. From the most opulent to the most humble, all are treated with equal importance. These highly individual books allowed him to travel widely and share his experience with us all.

One of a series of poster to celebrate Britain's architectural heritage for the RIBA in 1975

Comment on Britain's 'special relationship' with the USA. From Gentleman's own book 'A Special Relationship' Faber 1986 which he produced after being outraged by Britain's  agreement  to give the Americans  use of our airfields for the bombing of Libya. 

Now a youthful 70-something, he can look back on an amazing body of work. In 1970 he was made a Royal Designer for Industry, Britain's highest honour for a designer. He has work in the collections of Tate Britain, the Victoria & Albert Museum and the National Maritime Museum. He is also a member of the Alliance Graphic International.

Every morning he climbs the three flights of stairs to his top-floor studio, where he has worked alone for over 30 years. He's never had the slightest desire to work with or for anyone. In my view, this has contributed to his success. For me, Gentleman represents the kind of designer who makes me proud to be part of the same profession. His work demonstrates integrity, intelligence, skill and beauty. It has an enduring quality that enhances our visual experience and positively contributes to the world we all share. That is what design should do Sadly it rarely does.

At the end of our meeting l asked Gentleman who were his heroes? He mentioned Paul Nash, Edward Bawden and particularly Eric Revilious. Then the conversation returned to his father Tom, who he felt could have been a very successful fine artist had he the personality to cope with the galleries and the business that goes with it. But, as Gentleman points out, he was very modest and reluctant to promote himself. This modest trait is quite evident in Gentleman, who seems uncomfortable in that uniquely charming British way, when praise is directed towards him.

On the journey home l realised who were the real heroes of this piece. Tom and Winifred Gentleman. Their work and inspiration continues.

Post Script: I caught up with David Gentleman last November at his home in Camden. In recent years he has devoted time to the Stop the War Coalition and most would be aware of Gentleman’s very powerful blood splattered graphics on the various marches during the Iraqi war...

   

 Next year sees his 80th year and he shows no sign of slowing up. And that is the wonderful thing about great graphic designers. They  speak through their work for as long as they can.  It is a great pity that Gentleman has not been recognised for his considerable contribution to British design while other, mouthy and financially motivated designers have been. Such is the inequality of talent. 

Comments

[Wil]

Thankyou for sharing this, "Plats du jour" is one of my favourite book covers. I'm going to look up David's books now to see if they are available.

It's a huge inspiration to see that he's so involved, even at Blair at the Chilcott enquiry I did find myself admiring the protest banners.

[Conor Clarke]

In 1978, as a teenager searching for my role in life, my father brought me to a movie called Capricorn One, a classic conspiracy tale about the first manned mission to Mars. All appears to be going well until the astronauts are pulled off the ship just before launch by shadowy government types and whisked off to a film studio in the desert. Great fun, however it was the support movie that changed my life. It was a documentary about a range of different artists who had been commissioned to design a stamp for the Royal Mail — a painter, a sculptor, a photographer and this curious creature called a graphic designer. I watched David Gentleman, spellbound, as he took us through his design process in the magic light of his studio. "That's it, that's what I want to do!" I declared to my Dad. 32 years later, that is what I do and have been doing ever since, thanks to David Gentleman. I have had the privilege of designing several stamps as part of my career, one for PTT Nederland in 1991 and several since for An Post, The Irish Post Office. So many thanks to you Mike for this article and please pass this story on to David Gentleman if you ever get the chance.

Best,

Conor

[crownfolio]

Thanks for this - I'm also a fan of Plats du Jour, both the book and the cover.

He also did a handful of posters for London Transport and they can be seen here :http://www.ltmcollection.org/posters/results/results.html?IXsearch=david+gentleman&button=GO%21

[Term Papers]

Certainly It is not surprising against this highly stimulating backdrop that the young Gentleman began wielding a pencil with great confidence to record the world around him.

[Logo Design]

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[hajin]

nice Graphics and typo.!

[V Hallas]

Great DG profile! Fans of Gentleman may be interested to know that Dulwich Picture Gallery is organising a special eBay auction of the original watercolour 'Suffolk Garden under snow' specially commissioned for the Gallery's 2010 Christmas Card. Just bid online from Monday 22nd November to Wednesday 1st December at http://donations.ebay.co.uk/charity/charity.jsp?NP_ID=41841

[Jennie Wright]

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[Corporate Logo Design]

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