This is the first monograph on the work of David Whitaker, providing a unique insight into his fascinating career as a painter. Over the course of his career, Whitaker extended the range and resonance of Abstract Art. He has established a reputation through investigating the optical effects of colour in paintings of extraordinary technical accomplishment and daring. The ambition and the control of these strikingly beautiful effects were continuously developed throughout his career. He even managed to achieve his minutely graduated effects in watercolour. David Whitaker was granted a Distinction in Painting from the Royal Academy Schools. In 1970 he became one of the first British artists to have a solo exhibition at the Serpentine Gallery, London. In 1973 on the recommendation of Bridget Riley he received the Mark Rothko Memorial Award and in 1996 he became one of the first abstract painters to win one of the prestigious Hunting Art Prizes. Whitaker has exhibited worldwide at the Redfern and Hayward galleries, the Barbican, the Groucho Club, the Royal Academy in London, as well as galleries in California, Germany, Sweden and Iceland. With text by writer and journalist Matthew Sturgis, the book is richly illustrated with full-colour images and will inspire anyone with an interest in abstract art and watercolour painting. AUTHOR: Matthew Sturgis is the author of Black Dog Publishing's Paperwork: Peter Clark, and of acclaimed biographies of Aubrey Beardsley and Walter Sickert. He has given lectures at Tate Britain, the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, and the Scottish National Gallery, amongst others. He writes regularly for the Daily Telegraph, TLS, Country Life and Burlington Magazine. ILLUSTRATIONS: 120 colour & b/w