Picture of author.

David Gentleman

Author of David Gentleman's Britain

21+ Works 340 Members 2 Reviews

About the Author

David Gentleman is a watercolourist, wood engraver and lithographer.

Includes the name: David Gentleman

Image credit: Photo: John Christie

Series

Works by David Gentleman

David Gentleman's Britain (1982) 73 copies
David Gentleman's London (1985) 60 copies
David Gentleman's Paris (1991) 34 copies
David Gentleman's India (1994) 29 copies
David Gentleman's Coastline (1988) 19 copies
Artwork (2002) 14 copies
In the Country (2014) 12 copies
Design in miniature. (1972) 10 copies
David Gentleman's Italy (1997) 7 copies
A Cross for Queen Eleanor (1979) 6 copies
Our Jacko (2018) — Illustrator — 5 copies
Bridges On The Backs (1961) 3 copies

Associated Works

Macbeth (1606) — Cover designer, some editions — 25,895 copies
A Midsummer Night's Dream (1603) — Cover designer, some editions — 19,661 copies
Othello (1604) — Cover designer, some editions — 16,827 copies
The Tempest (1610) — Cover designer, some editions — 13,681 copies
Julius Caesar (1623) — Cover designer, some editions — 12,336 copies
The Swiss Family Robinson (1812) — Illustrator, some editions — 8,690 copies
The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare (1908) — Cover artist, some editions — 7,011 copies
Richard III (1597) — Designer, some editions — 6,177 copies
Henry V (1600) — Cover designer, some editions — 5,981 copies
The Jungle Books (1894) — Illustrator, some editions — 5,675 copies
Henry IV, Part 1 (1598) — Cover designer, some editions — 5,017 copies
Richard II (1597) — Cover designer, some editions — 4,135 copies
The Poems of Catullus (0060) — Cover designer, some editions — 2,871 copies
The Greeks (1951) — Cover artist, some editions — 1,551 copies
Henry VIII (1612) — Cover designer, some editions — 1,381 copies
The Man of Property (1906) — Cover artist, some editions — 1,041 copies
The Complete Poems (1912) — Cover artist, some editions — 496 copies
War in Val d'Orcia (1947) — Cover artist, some editions — 351 copies
Time of Hope (1949) — Cover artist, some editions — 231 copies
Last Things (1970) — Cover artist, some editions — 169 copies
Poems (1777) — Illustrator, some editions; Illustrator — 159 copies
Plats du Jour (1957) — Illustrator, some editions — 108 copies
Vogue French Cookery (1976) — Illustrator — 31 copies
Inwards where all the battle is (1997) — Illustrator, some editions — 5 copies
Galaxy (1970) — Contributor — 3 copies

Tagged

Common Knowledge

Members

Reviews

Strange, thought-provoking and inspiring.
 
Flagged
AgedPeasant | Nov 13, 2020 |
David Gentleman has captured London (and some of the western suburbs) through the eyes of an artist, and as such is naturally drawn to looking for the most picturesque and dramatic view. By doing so, even some of the capitals most insulting eyesores such as Centre Point or even under the Westway are made to appear slightly more refined by the stroke of an artist's brush; in the same way that concept visuals for a new shopping centre can appear elegant and gentrified on paper, but look ugly and depressing in the cold light of day.

This book was published in 1985. I visited the capital again last week (having not returned for almost 20 years) and I cannot begin to express my horror at what has befallen this once proud city. It is, to put it plainly a second blitzkrieg. London is now as lacking in character as any other metropolis in the world, with increasingly taller skyscrapers taking the form of shards and slabs of mirrored glass, and even a horrific egg case apparently layed by a giant fly (St Mary Axe). These and other mismatching monstrosities vomited up by overpaid and pretentious architects seem to burst their way out of London's bedrock to rape the skyline like some perverse phallic hazing prank - "cocks out lads, and wave 'em at the ladies!"

One of my favourite parts of the book is when David draws comparisons between two otherwise unconnected images:

The City (from Tower Bridge), with it's tall oblong buildings sitting like dark slabs against the sky, juxtaposed on the facing page with an image of Bunhill (Bone Hill) Fields grave yard taken from a low angle with the headstones appearing like monoliths rising up to match the tower blocks on the preceeding page.

The Tricerotops skull (from the Natural History Museum) shown in silhouette, facing another dinosaur from the industrial age 'Old Bess' (Science Museum).

The chimney stacks of Battersea Power Station mirrored on the next page with the 'Frenchified' suspention towers of Hammersmith Bridge reflecting the overall proportions in a way which only an artist's eye would have ever spotted.

Even though I am fully aware that the London this book attempts to represent was already much diluted, even at the time, by weak throw-away architecture; David Gentleman did manage still to shine a photogenic light on it's best side. He'd find it very much harder to do so today.
… (more)
½
 
Flagged
Sylak | Mar 28, 2019 |

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Statistics

Works
21
Also by
27
Members
340
Popularity
#70,096
Rating
3.9
Reviews
2
ISBNs
38

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