|
|
 |
| |
David Gentleman |
Reward for designer who stamped mark on world
Royal hands prestigious award to creator of popular iconic images
ARTIST David Gentleman has been give a prestigious award by the Design Council.
Mr Gentleman, who lives in Gloucester Crescent, Camden Town, was presented with the Prince Philip Design Prize 2007 at a ceremony on Thursday in Gateshead.
Former winners include Lord Norman Foster and Hampstead-based architect Sir Michael Hopkins.
The Duke of Edinburgh handed the award to Mr Gentleman for 40 years of iconic work that includes designing more than 100 stamps for Royal Mail, a British Steel logo and a series of posters for the National Trust. Mr Gentleman’s more recent work includes posters for the Stop The War Coalition – included in an exhibition of posters currently at the Imperial War Museum.
Mr Gentleman said: “It felt a little like being at the Oscars. Prince Philip read out the winner from an envelope. He then spoke about my work and said said he had known about my art for some time.”
One of his best-known pieces of work which the judges highlighted graces Charing Cross Tube station. It features medieval scenes and has images of craftsman who built the original Charing Cross, a tribute to Edward I’s queen, Eleanor. When the 13th-century monarch died, the heartbroken king erected “Eleanor crosses” in the 12 places the funeral procession stopped for the night as her body was brought to London.
Mr Gentleman told the New Journal of the meticulous research that went into designing the mural.
He said: “I was told my brief was that it should simply remind people of the original Charing Cross. To most people, it is now just a station name. At the time, work was being done on Westminster Abbey, so I went up the scaffolding.
“The craftsmen were using the same techniques they had used hundreds of years ago to make the Eleanor crosses – mallets and chisels. They were moving stone by using the same claw grips. It helped me form my ideas for the station.”
The award was also for Mr Gentleman long-standing relationship with the Royal Mail. His work broke a tradition of having the Queen’s head on stamps.
Mr Gentleman said: “When Tony Benn became Postmaster General he asked for suggestions for stamps, so I wrote to him saying we could abandon the Queen’s portrait as it restricted the space we had for design.”
He drew up some ideas and Tony Benn took them to Buckingham Palace for the Queen to consider. She told Mr Benn she was happy with how the designs were already – but instead her silhouette was reduced in size, allowing Gentleman more space. |
 |
|
|
|
| Your Comments: |
When I was the Commemorative Stamp Programme Manager at Royal Mail I
worked with David. His talents and, like Tony Benn, his principles, have
always led me to believe an award for him was long-long overdue, but it
really should have been a Knighthood. His work will be preserved forever.
The stamps he has designed will still be with us, admired (and increasing in
value), thousands of years after all today's buildings have long since been
demolished.
France Scicluna |
| |
|
|
|
