Artist Info
David King
David King (1943–2016), was a British writer, designer and historian of graphic design who, in the course of his research, assembled one of the largest collections of Soviet graphics and photographs. From 1960 to 1963, he studied graphic design at the London School of Printing and Graphic Arts (now London College of Communication). After graduating he worked at Queen magazine, the Stratton & Wolsey advertising agency and the Observer newspaper before, in 1965, moving to The Sunday Times Magazine to become a designer under the art direction of Michael Rand. He later branched 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.
He taught at the Central School of Art & Design in the 1970s.
From 1960 to 1963, he studied graphic design at the London School of Printing and Graphic Arts (now London College of Communication). He was promoted to art editor and remained at the magazine for ten years, five as a staff member, five as a freelance.
He co-authored three books using visual material from his archive: Blood & Laughter (1983), The Great Purges (1984) and Trotsky: A Photographic Biography (1986).
The Commissar Vanishes (1997)
Ordinary Citizens: The Victims of Stalin (2003).
John Heartfield: Laughter is a Devastating Weapon (2015)