![]() There would be complex pulley arrangements, threaded by lengths of knotted string. The machines he drew were frequently powered by steam boilers or kettles, heated by candles or a spirit lamp and usually kept running by balding, bespectacled men in overalls. The result is a 96-page softback book with alternating full-page cartoons and smaller vignettes, all on pertinent subjects. The Foreword (by 'G.W.R') notes that the cartoonist was given a free hand to re-imagine the history of the line for the amusement of its customers. In 1935 the Great Western Railway commissioned him to create a set of cartoons on the theme of the GWR itself, which they then published as Railway Ribaldry. Most of his cartoons have since been reprinted many times in multiple collections. "The multimovement tabby silencer", which automatically threw water at serenading cats."Resuscitating stale railway scones for redistribution at the station buffets".A simple apparatus for removing a wart from the top of the head" In 1934 he published a collection of his favourites as Absurdities, such as: He also produced a steady stream of humorous drawings for magazines and advertisements. Testing Golf Drivers, a typical "Heath Robinson contraption". His work was also part of the painting event in the art competition at the 1932 Summer Olympics. He also depicted the American Expeditionary Force in France. Uncle Lubin is regarded as the start of his career in the depiction of unlikely machines.ĭuring the First World War, he drew large numbers of cartoons, depicting ever-more-unlikely secret weapons being used by the combatants. : 32 In the course of his work, Robinson also wrote and illustrated three children's books, The Adventures of Uncle Lubin (1902), Bill the Minder (1912) and Peter Quip in Search of a Friend (1922). The consultants commented on the work submitted by the students. Robinson also served as a consultant at the Percy Bradshaw's The Press Art School, a school teaching painting, drawing, and illustration by correspondence. Robinson was one of the leading illustrators selected by Percy Bradshaw for inclusion in his The Art of the Illustrator (1917-1918) which presented a separate portfolio for each of twenty illustrators. His early career involved illustrating books – among others: Hans Christian Andersen's Danish Fairy Tales and Legends (1897), The Arabian Nights (1899), Tales from Shakespeare (1902), Gargantua and Pantagruel (1904), Twelfth Night (1908), Andersen's Fairy Tales (1913), A Midsummer Night's Dream (1914), Charles Kingsley's The Water-Babies (1915) and Walter de la Mare's Peacock Pie (1916). His Uncle Charles was an illustrator for The Illustrated London News. His grandfather Thomas, his father Thomas Robinson (1838–1902) and brothers Thomas Heath Robinson (1869–1954) and Charles Robinson (1870–1937) all worked as illustrators. William Heath Robinson was born in Hornsey Rise, London, on into a family of artists in Stroud Green, Finsbury Park, North London. ![]() ![]() Its continuing popularity was undoubtedly linked to Britain's shortages and the need to "make do and mend" during the Second World War.Īn illustration from The Adventures of Uncle Lubin (1902) A "Heath Robinson contraption" is perhaps most commonly used in relation to temporary fixes using ingenuity and whatever is to hand, often string and tape, or unlikely cannibalisations. ![]() Other cartoonists drew on similar themes by 1928 the American Rube Goldberg was known for " Rube Goldberg machines" in the United States. It became part of popular language during the 1914–1918 First World War as a description of any unnecessarily complex and implausible contrivance. In the UK, the term "Heath Robinson contraption" gained dictionary recognition around 1912. William Heath Robinson ( – 13 September 1944) was an English cartoonist, illustrator and artist, best known for drawings of whimsically elaborate machines to achieve simple objectives. ![]()
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