David Ghilchik

Romanian-born painter and illustrator David Ghilchik studied at Manchester College of Art from 1907-15. In 1915 he married fellow artist Josephine Matley Duddle, with the couple settling in London, where their daughter Sybil later became an opera singer. Ghilchik worked as a cartoonist (mainly for Punch magazine) from 1920-39 and as a painter, after having served as a truck driver on the Italian front during World War I. He exhibited widely, notably at the Royal Academy, the New English Art Club, the Royal Society of Portrait Painters and the Royal Society of Painters in Oil.

Ghilchik entered the 1928 and 1932 Olympic Games for Great Britain. All of his drawings were created for Punch. Clearly identifiable are his cartoons The Pillion Girl: Next Step and Final Touches. It is uncertain whether all the sketches were actually published. The drawings for the 1932 art competitions are not specified, titled Original “Punch” Drawing I – IV. They could, for example, have been taken from a 1931 Punch calendar, which showed sporting motifs as well.