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David King: Designer, Activist, Visual Historian
Exploring an unjustly overlooked figure in 20th-century British visual culture
This book offers a comprehensive overview to the work and legacy of David King (1943–2016), whose fascinating career bridged journalism, graphic design, photography, and collecting. King launched his career at Britain’s Sunday Times Magazine in the 1960s, starting as a designer and later branching out into image-led journalism. He developed a particular interest in revolutionary Russia and began amassing a collection of graphic art and photographs—ultimately accumulating around 250,000 images that he shared with news outlets. Throughout his life, King blended political activism with his graphic design work, creating anti-Apartheid and anti-Nazi posters, covers for books on Communist history, album artwork for The Who and Jimi Hendrix, catalogues on Russian art and society for the Museum of Modern Art in Oxford, and typographic covers for the left-wing magazine City Limits . This well-researched and finely illustrated publication ties together King’s accomplishments as a visual historian, artist, journalist, and activist.
This book offers a comprehensive overview to the work and legacy of David King (1943–2016), whose fascinating career bridged journalism, graphic design, photography, and collecting. King launched his career at Britain’s Sunday Times Magazine in the 1960s, starting as a designer and later branching out into image-led journalism. He developed a particular interest in revolutionary Russia and began amassing a collection of graphic art and photographs—ultimately accumulating around 250,000 images that he shared with news outlets. Throughout his life, King blended political activism with his graphic design work, creating anti-Apartheid and anti-Nazi posters, covers for books on Communist history, album artwork for The Who and Jimi Hendrix, catalogues on Russian art and society for the Museum of Modern Art in Oxford, and typographic covers for the left-wing magazine City Limits . This well-researched and finely illustrated publication ties together King’s accomplishments as a visual historian, artist, journalist, and activist.
240 pages, Hardcover
Published September 29, 2020
25 people want to read
About the author
Rick Poynor
40 books26 followersRick Poynor is a British writer on design, graphic design, typography and visual culture. He began as a general visual arts journalist, working on Blueprint magazine in London. After founding Eye magazine, which he edited from 1990 to 1997, he focused increasingly on visual communication. He is writer-at-large and columnist of Eye, and a contributing editor and columnist of Print (magazine).
In 1999, Poynor was a co-ordinator of the First Things First 2000 manifesto initiated by Adbusters. In 2003, he co-founded Design Observer, a weblog for design writing and discussion, with William Drenttel, Jessica Helfand and Michael Bierut. He wrote for the site until 2005. He was a visiting professor at the Royal College of Art, London from 1994 to 1999 and returned to the RCA in 2006 as a research fellow. He has also taught at the Jan van Eyck Academy in Maastricht. In 2004, Poynor curated the exhibition Communicate: Independent British Graphic Design since the Sixties at the Barbican Art Gallery in London. The exhibition subsequently travelled to four venues in China and to Zurich.
Poynor's writing encompasses both cultural criticism and design history and his books break down into three categories. He has written several monographs about significant British figures in the arts and design: Brian Eno (musician), Nigel Coates (architect) and Vaughan Oliver and Herbert Spencer (graphic designers). Other books document and analyse general movements in graphic design and typography. Among these are Typography Now, the first international survey of the digital typography of the late 1980s and early 1990s, and No More Rules, a critical study of graphic design and postmodernism. Poynor has also published three essay collections, Design Without Boundaries, Obey the Giant and Designing Pornotopia, which explore the cultural implications of visual communication, including advertising, photography, branding, graphic design and retail design.
Poynor was a prominent interviewee in the 2007 documentary film Helvetica.
In 1999, Poynor was a co-ordinator of the First Things First 2000 manifesto initiated by Adbusters. In 2003, he co-founded Design Observer, a weblog for design writing and discussion, with William Drenttel, Jessica Helfand and Michael Bierut. He wrote for the site until 2005. He was a visiting professor at the Royal College of Art, London from 1994 to 1999 and returned to the RCA in 2006 as a research fellow. He has also taught at the Jan van Eyck Academy in Maastricht. In 2004, Poynor curated the exhibition Communicate: Independent British Graphic Design since the Sixties at the Barbican Art Gallery in London. The exhibition subsequently travelled to four venues in China and to Zurich.
Poynor's writing encompasses both cultural criticism and design history and his books break down into three categories. He has written several monographs about significant British figures in the arts and design: Brian Eno (musician), Nigel Coates (architect) and Vaughan Oliver and Herbert Spencer (graphic designers). Other books document and analyse general movements in graphic design and typography. Among these are Typography Now, the first international survey of the digital typography of the late 1980s and early 1990s, and No More Rules, a critical study of graphic design and postmodernism. Poynor has also published three essay collections, Design Without Boundaries, Obey the Giant and Designing Pornotopia, which explore the cultural implications of visual communication, including advertising, photography, branding, graphic design and retail design.
Poynor was a prominent interviewee in the 2007 documentary film Helvetica.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
December 21, 2024
Excellent text covering one of the radical lefts best designers. Tragically it ignores any political commentary of Kings work and beliefs.
Nonetheless for a biographical text accompanied by beautiful pictures and prints truly this is a book every Trotskyist should own.
Nonetheless for a biographical text accompanied by beautiful pictures and prints truly this is a book every Trotskyist should own.
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December 3, 2020How have I not heard of David King before? This is a name I feel I should know, I have seen his images and not realised they were his!
This book is such a brilliant introduction to a man who fuses art, design, illustration with activism in a very visual way. The book documents the history of King's life and works in journalism and activism. Graphics for the Anti Apartheid Movement and Anti Nazi League are just the tip of the iceberg for King. There are photos and posters of Muhammed Ali, Trotsky, images from The Sunday Times Magazine and Penguin Book covers. The range feels limitless. The overall aesthetics of the artwork is simple but effective, some are striking images but the message is clear.
Rick Poyer provides the writing and it is laid out well and gives a good introduction to King. The book starts with a preface, then followed by an introduction. There are then three parts to the main content of the book - Visual Journalism - Visual Activism - Visual History. Then notes, bibliography etc.
This is a good visual book to flick through or to read over time. I did spend a couple of weeks reading this book and found it to be informative from a historical point as well as from an art aspect. It is a cracking book that is just absolutely jam-packed full of interesting facts, photos, posters and images.
This is one that would appeal to modern art fans, 20th Century photographers and history readers. It is laid out so well and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It is a fabulous book to have in hardback and it is one I would definitely recommend.
This book is such a brilliant introduction to a man who fuses art, design, illustration with activism in a very visual way. The book documents the history of King's life and works in journalism and activism. Graphics for the Anti Apartheid Movement and Anti Nazi League are just the tip of the iceberg for King. There are photos and posters of Muhammed Ali, Trotsky, images from The Sunday Times Magazine and Penguin Book covers. The range feels limitless. The overall aesthetics of the artwork is simple but effective, some are striking images but the message is clear.
Rick Poyer provides the writing and it is laid out well and gives a good introduction to King. The book starts with a preface, then followed by an introduction. There are then three parts to the main content of the book - Visual Journalism - Visual Activism - Visual History. Then notes, bibliography etc.
This is a good visual book to flick through or to read over time. I did spend a couple of weeks reading this book and found it to be informative from a historical point as well as from an art aspect. It is a cracking book that is just absolutely jam-packed full of interesting facts, photos, posters and images.
This is one that would appeal to modern art fans, 20th Century photographers and history readers. It is laid out so well and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It is a fabulous book to have in hardback and it is one I would definitely recommend.
November 11, 2020
This is a magnificent collection of the art and design of the late David King (1943-2016), who dedicated his considerable erudition and skill to creating some of the most iconic designs of the second half of the 20th and first half of the 21st century. He specialized in the life of Leon Trotsky, founder of the Left Opposition in the USSR and of the Fourth International. The best known of King's books is "The Commissar Vanishes", "Ordinary Citizens" and "Red Star Over Russia". Also notable is his book "Trotsky A Documentary" written with Francis Wyndham. King's collection was left to the Tate Modern in London, where many items are exhibited. I recommend his work highly, not just for his brilliant and unforgettable designs, but for his dedication to resurrecting the life of Leon Trotsky, whom Stalin tried to erase from Soviet history and who Stalin had murdered by the GPU in 1940.
November 18, 2020
I was given this book as a part of the Amazon Vine review programme. I knew nothing about David King before I started it but it seemed like the kind of thing I would be interested in so I took a chance. I'm glad I did. The writer, Rick Poyner, has split the book into sections in line with the different areas of King's work. His early years and the formative work he did with the Sunday Times magazine, his graphic design work as an activist and his final years as an archivist and author of his extensive collection of material about Russia. The book is well laid out and the text is just about right in tone and content for someone who wants an easily accessible overview of his life and work. There are tonnes and tonnes of great examples of his artwork throughout the book and this is beautifully designed almost as an homage to King himself.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews