David Ghilchik was born into a Jewish family in Botoșani, Kingdom of Romania (now Romania) in 1892. After immigrating to England as a child, he studied at the Manchester School of Art and later, at the Slade in London. A versatile cartoonist and painter, he depicted London scenes, landscapes, and continental views, exhibited widely and contributed regularly to Punch and other publications.
Painter and cartoonist David Ghilchik was born into a Jewish family in Botoșani, Kingdom of Romania (now Romania) on 7 April 1892. At the age of five, he moved with his family to England, settling in Manchester. There, his emerging artistic talent soon outshone his father’s hopes for a medical career. Initially granted permission to attend art school for just one year before beginning medical studies, Ghilchik’s potential was quickly recognised, when he secured a scholarship to Manchester School of Art, where he studied from 1907–15, under renowned painter Adolphe Valette. His work received early recognition: in 1915, he was awarded a bronze medal at the National Competition at South Kensington for his shaded drawing from the nude, exhibited by the Manchester School of Art (Manchester Courier, 23 July 1915, p. 4).
Ghilchik continued his education at the Slade School of Fine Art in London, where he studied under Henry Tonks and Ambrose McEvoy, before pursuing further studies in Paris, Florence, and Venice on a travelling scholarship. His travels and training further enriched his style, which blended precise draughtsmanship with the influence of modern European painting. With the outbreak of the First World War, Ghilchik served as a driver and mechanic in the Royal Army Service Corps, later transferring to the Intelligence Corps and serving on the Italian Piave front. While stationed in France, he began sending illustrated letters home, capturing lighter moments of army life. These were well received, and Punch magazine published his first cartoons while he was still on active duty. Following the war, Ghilchik settled in London and pursued a career as a cartoonist and painter. From 1921–39, he contributed regularly to Punch, producing cartoons known for their social and domestic humour, as well as drawing for a wide range of publications, including the Daily Sketch, where he served as a political cartoonist during the Second World War, The Humorist, Blighty, Time and Tide, Radio Times, and Men Only.
As a painter, Ghilchik exhibited extensively throughout his life at the Royal Academy of Arts, Royal Society of Portrait Painters, New English Art Club, Royal Institute of Oil Painters, and the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool. His oil paintings have been noted for stylistic similarities to those of Christopher Wood, particularly in their 'fresh, breezy quality' (Art UK). Ghilchik expressed admiration for Augustus John, whom he considered Britain’s greatest living artist, and cited the French painter, Ingres, as a key influence. In 1939, Ghilchik's watercolour, On the Beach was exhibited at the United Society of Artists' 19th Annual Exhibition in London, where it was praised in the press for its ‘live humanity ( Kensington News and West London Times, 1939, p. 2). The following year, works such as A Shawl for Marita and The Children’s Hour, shown at the Society’s 20th Annual Exhibition at the Suffolk Galleries, were described as ‘intimate and homely’ ( Kensington News and West London Times, 21 June 1940, p. 3).
Ghilchik was also involved in the Olympic Art Competitions, submitting entries in the painting, drawing, and watercolour categories for Great Britain for both the 1928 and 1932 Games. During the late 1940s, Ghilchik was commissioned by the Staveley Company to produce a series of paintings depicting industrial scenes at their Devonshire Works, including, End of the Day, which captured the moment when workers leave the factory. Prints of these paintings were later used in the company’s promotional publication, The Staveley Story. In later years, Ghilchik’s landscape painting attracted critical attention for its distinctive synthesis of Constable’s open-air approach and French Impressionism. Reviewing a 1972 exhibition of over 90 of his works at the Arun Art Centre in Arundel, Sussex, the local paper praised his ‘lively and painterly vitality’ and the evocative quality of his scenes of London and the Continent ( Worthing Herald 1972, p. 4).
Ghilchik was a founding member of the Society of Wood Engravers in 1920, and later became President of the London Sketch Club in 1942, an organisation with which he remained closely associated throughout his life. He was also Vice-President of the United Society of Artists, a member of the Savage Club and the Wapping Group of Artists, and was elected a member of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters around 1960. He continued teaching into old age, leading a beloved Sunday class at the Chelsea Studio of the London Sketch Club, just days before his death. In the UK public domain, his work is represented in the V&A, Chesterfield Museum & Art Gallery and Imperial War Museum, among others.
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