William Heath Robinson
(1872-1944), Cartoonist and book illustratorSitter in 4 portraits
Robinson came from a dynasty of wood-engravers and commercial artists. He studied at Islington Art School and the Royal Academy Schools, and in 1903 married the daughter of the editor of the Penny Illustrated Paper. Influenced by art nouveau line drawings and Japanese prints, he became illustrator of the Arabian Nights, Rabelais and Shakespeare. He found his niche with drawings of absurd machines performing banal tasks. His sense of the ridiculous boosted morale in both World Wars. In 1934, the full-scale working house for 'the Gadget Family' was built from his drawings for the Ideal Home Exhibition at Olympia. His name is used to describe complicated, ramshackle and usually pointless machines.
by Yvonne Gregory
chlorobromide print, 21 July 1938
NPG P517
by Harry Lawrence Oakley
silhouette, 1920s-1940s
NPG D370
by Unknown artist
screenprint, 1921
NPG D3782
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