It's All a Bit Heath Robinson: Re-inventing the First World War

By: Lucinda Gosling and Mary Evans Picture Library

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Synopsis: William Heath Robinson remains one of Britain’s best-loved illustrators and has embedded himself into English vernacular, inspiring the phrase ‘it’s all a bit Heath Robinson’ to describe any precarious or unnecessarily complex contraption. Born in London, he originally had ambitions to be a landscape painter, but would establish his artistic reputation as a book illustrator during the genre’s so-called golden age. It was his association with weekly illustrated magazine The Sketch that was to launch and cement his legacy as a humorous artist. Combining a distinctive draughtsmanship with a curious and ingenious mind, the advent of the First World War inspired Heath Robinson to dream up a series of increasingly outlandish and bizarre military inventions with which the opposing armies would try to outwit each other. From the kaiser’s campaigning car or a suggestion for an armoured bayonet curler, to post-war ‘unbullying’ of beef, his cartoons are a fantastically absurd take on wartime technology and home-front life. Sadly, his inventions were rejected by a (fictitious) ‘Inventions Board’, but the charm and eccentricity of his ideas was loved by the public and he remains to this day one of the finest exponents of humorous British art.

Book Quality:: Publisher Quality
ISBN-13:: 9780750985888
Publisher:: The History Press
Date of Addition:: 05/06/25
Copyrighted By:: Text, Lucinda Gosling
Adult content:: No
Language:: English
Has Image Descriptions:: No
Categories:: Nonfiction, Art and Architecture, Biographies and Memoirs, Politics and Government
Submitted By:: Bookshare Staff
Usage Restrictions:: This is a copyrighted book.