Military Elements, signed screenprint by David Holt
Number 7 of only 10 copies, from March 1963
Author
Publisher
Printing Details
Printed in March 1963, this is a limited edition screenprint by David Holt. This being number 7 of only ten copies. The sheet measures 70.5 × 51.5cm.
A sophisticated quartet of perspectives on the coastal landscape at Hythe. Through an abstract lens, David Holt deconstructs the unique topography of the Hythe Ranges, focusing on the stark, geometric silhouettes of the military installations set against the shifting tidal horizon and natural landscape. Using a restrained color palette and clean lines, David captures the quiet, disciplined isolation of this restricted shoreline, transforming a functional landscape into a series of rhythmic, atmospheric studies.
Signed and dated lower right, titled and numbered lower left.
Provenance: This painting comes directly from the artist's estate, and the work is offered with full provenance.
David Holt (1928–2014). Born in Hythe, Kent. Painter and Lecturer in Art. After National Service, he trained at the Canterbury School of Art, the Hammersmith School of Art and the Royal Academy Schools where he was awarded a medal for drawing and the Knapping Prize. He joined a studio-workshop with Gerald Holtom (designer of the CND symbol) in 1958 where he designed and produced proscenium curtains for schools. In 1958 he was awarded a Harkness Fellowship and travelled across America, producing many drawings and prints of the Pueblo Indians and their life-dance in Santa Fe in New Mexico, where he also worked with artist Agnes Sims. He returned to England in 1960 and continued to paint and work on large textile appliques for schools, churches, and private houses including Spade House in Kent, the former home of H G Wells.
He was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in 1962, and in 1964 was commissioned to design and make a large textile applique 'Christ in Majesty' which still hangs in the chapel of Christ Church College in Canterbury.
He was Head of Art at Canterbury Christ Church University until his retirement in 1995. He exhibited widely in the UK and the States and worked with many art societies and summer schools across East Kent.
His work can be found in both private and public collections throughout the UK and America, including the Yale Centre for British Art. His painting "Coastal Watcher" was recently used for the dustwrapper on Modernism and Memory: Rhoda Pritzker and the Art of Collecting (Yale University Press, 2016).
Condition
Fair to good condition. There are patches of dustiness and marking to the margins, with one patch of heavier tanning to the lower right image (see pictures). There are some marginal tears and creases, but once mounted and framed this will be a most striking piece.
Books are currently zero-rated for duty (as of January 2026), so the price shown is the price you pay.
Price
£40.00
