“To me, the name Heath Robinson conjures up images of complex contraptions made from household and garden implements, tied together and operated via cogs, levers and pulleys to perform something simple in a solemn way. William Heath Robinson was an English cartoonist and illustrator best known for his drawings of complicated machines invented to achieve simple objectives.
Heath Robinson – often used as a byword for something that’s been cobbled together – drew flights of fancy that were, conversely, a sophisticated way of finding humour during some of the more testing times of life.
This invention, drawn in 1940, for example, seems to be a pun on the name of double Gloucester cheese – if you look closely, you can see machinery designed to punch Gruyere-type holes out of a cheese wheel. The scrapings are then funnelled into a hot crucible, melted and glued together to create double the original Gloucester.
The image also addresses the serious issue of rationing during wartime with humour. It’s a joke based on the idea of taking the hard privation of rationing and turning it round to create a bespoke product.
The process is peopled by typical Heath Robinson workers – mostly ordinary men going about their work with seriousness and dignity. It’s the British keeping calm and carrying on, despite what is happening around them.
The premises in which they work has seen better days. There are cracks in the walls and things are held together with string. Though it may look haphazard, there’s a logic to the cheese-making process from start to finish.
I love the level of detail in Heath Robinson’s pictures. He was also a skilled book illustrator and his watercolours were expressive – his varied artistic experience made his humorous work accomplished indeed.
He was in great demand during the war, particularly because his sense of humour helped undercut the fear of invasion. Another of his works from that time, which we have on display, depicts enemy tanks in the streets of an English village, but the local populace is one step ahead. A cutaway shows the interior of the church tower, which houses a mechanism enabling the villagers to spin round all the road signs so the enemy is misdirected.”
Interview by John Holt. Heath Robinson: Dreams and Machines is at Mottisfont Abbey, Hampshire, until 15 April
Heath Robinson – often used as a byword for something that’s been cobbled together – drew flights of fancy that were, conversely, a sophisticated way of finding humour during some of the more testing times of life.
This invention, drawn in 1940, for example, seems to be a pun on the name of double Gloucester cheese – if you look closely, you can see machinery designed to punch Gruyere-type holes out of a cheese wheel. The scrapings are then funnelled into a hot crucible, melted and glued together to create double the original Gloucester.
The image also addresses the serious issue of rationing during wartime with humour. It’s a joke based on the idea of taking the hard privation of rationing and turning it round to create a bespoke product.
The process is peopled by typical Heath Robinson workers – mostly ordinary men going about their work with seriousness and dignity. It’s the British keeping calm and carrying on, despite what is happening around them.
The premises in which they work has seen better days. There are cracks in the walls and things are held together with string. Though it may look haphazard, there’s a logic to the cheese-making process from start to finish.
I love the level of detail in Heath Robinson’s pictures. He was also a skilled book illustrator and his watercolours were expressive – his varied artistic experience made his humorous work accomplished indeed.
He was in great demand during the war, particularly because his sense of humour helped undercut the fear of invasion. Another of his works from that time, which we have on display, depicts enemy tanks in the streets of an English village, but the local populace is one step ahead. A cutaway shows the interior of the church tower, which houses a mechanism enabling the villagers to spin round all the road signs so the enemy is misdirected.”
Interview by John Holt. Heath Robinson: Dreams and Machines is at Mottisfont Abbey, Hampshire, until 15 April
