Kenyon, Ley
Entry updated 12 September 2022. Tagged: Artist.
(1913-1990) UK designer, photographer and illustrator, active from the 1930s; after gaining the Distinguished Flying Cross as a rear-gunner while serving in World War Two, he was shot down on his 45th mission, and as a prisoner of war forged passports and other papers in preparation for the Great Escape from Stalag Luft III in 1944; in later life, he specialized in images of the underwater world, publishing several nonfiction books on the subject, the best known being Pocket Guide to the Undersea World (1956). Over and above The Great Escape (1949) by Paul Brickhill, Kenyon did cover illustrations for several sf books, most tellingly for the first seven volumes of the Fred and I sequence by John Pudney, though he ceased active commercial work around 1955. His work was conventionally clear-cut, and used sharp foreshortenings to fill spaces with complicated action moments. Other authors with Kenyon covers include Kendell Foster Crossen, Philip K Dick, Lord Dunsany and Dennis Wheatley. [JC]
Bennett Ley Kenyon
born London: 28 May 1913
died New Mexico: 15 November 1990
further reading
- David Buckman. The Dictionary of Artists in Britain Since 1945 (Bristol, England: Art Dictionaries, 1998) [nonfiction: hb/]
links
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