William Heath Robinson: London exhibition celebrates cartoonist
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Loading... - Adrien Gauthier
- 24 May 2022
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Heath Robinson, born in Finsbury Park in north London on 31 May 1872, became renowned for his detailed drawings and satirical take on life.
His sketches of bizarre mechanical gadgets led to his name becoming synonymous with the absurdly ingenious.
The display has been created to mark the 150th anniversary of his birth.
Having trained at Islington School of Art and the Royal Academy Schools, Heath Robinson had ambitions of becoming a landscape painter.
However, he found fame through his illustrations of texts written by such luminaries as William Shakespeare and Rudyard Kipling, and his comical cartoons published in various magazines.
During World War One, Heath Robinson used satire and absurdity to poke fun at German propaganda.
- The elaborate appeal of Heath Robinson
It was said he received a constant stream of letters throughout the war from both troops and the public thanking him for bringing joy to their lives at such a time.
He would also create illustrations of over-elaborate gadgets and inventions in order to send up the absurdity of human nature and its fondness for bureaucracy.
As a result, the term "Heath Robinson contraption" gained dictionary recognition from about 1912 for anything considered both ingenious and utterly impracticable. Read More...
