Malcolm McGregor (1935-2010)
February 2, 2010 12:00 AM
Remembered by Martin Windrow.
Malcolm, who died of cancer in January at the age of 75, was an important trail-blazer in our kind of publishing.
Thirty-five years ago his work with the author and film designer Andrew Mollo was of central importance in kick-starting the whole type of ‘niche’ publishing for which Osprey has since become known. In 1973 Blandford Press published Andrew’s and Malcolm’s ground-breaking title Army Uniforms of World War 2, in the Blandford Colour Series. Based on what we might call ‘the first book of Genesis’ (the Danish artist Preben Kannik’s Military Uniforms of the World, edited by Bill Carman), these small-format hardbacks had 80-plus colour pages, each presenting three small figures ‘free on white’ – the page format that Osprey copied and enlarged. Under the editorship of Barry Gregory the Blandford series continued for a decade, also featuring the work of such talented artists as Pierre Turner and, in the badge reference volumes, the author/illustrator Guido Rosignoli. This series of books were the foundation-stones of the uniform reference shelves of a whole generation of enthusiast readers and modellers, and it was Malcolm’s eye-catching work that first attracted them.
Malcolm’s work later appeared in many books and magazines, and he illustrated a number of Osprey titles by the authors Brian L.Davis, Gordon Williamson and Ian Sumner, including three volumes on Flags of the Third Reich (MAAs 270, 274 & 278); but it is British Commanders of World War II (Elite 98), and German Commanders of World War II (Elites 118 & 132), that showcase his unique touch - a meticulous, miniaturist style of figure illustration based on the exact coloured reconstruction of period photographs. Malcolm was insistent about working from the primary evidence that his talent deserved. He worked smaller and ‘tighter’ than most other illustrators, and his original artwork was a delight to study: beautifully controlled textures, jewel-like detail, and a fine eye for a portrait likeness.
Martin Windrow
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