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William Heath Robinson (1872 - 1944) Heath Robinson came from a family of illustrators and was most well-known for his fantastical drawings of mechanical machines and inventions. The humour of which lay in their complexity and absurdity whilst their brilliance lay in their ability to appeal both to adult and child a like. The term 'Heath Robinson' has even entered the Oxford English Dictionary as a term to describe an 'unneccessarily complex and implausible contraption.' At a time in the early 20th Century when machines were helping to ease production times and costs, Heath Robinson's inventions seemed to paradoxically do the opposite. Complex machines which lengthen rather than shorten processes and seem to test themselves rather than any product which they are designed for. For example, the trip-pram (see lot 503) is highly impractical seemingly testing the endurance of the cyclist rather than aiding them to look after the babies. In 1941 Metheun published 'Heath Robinson at War' a collection of his illustrations executed to boost morale at home and to ridicule the Nazi war machine, of which it is possible that lot 502 was intended. As J. Hamilton mentions in his book on the artist William Heath Robinson, (London, 1992) these Second World War drawings were 'effectively militarized versions of his inter-war inventions, as though they had been commandeered by the Civil Defense...and as important a part of the British war efforts as ITMA and J.B. Priestley's fireside chats broadcast by the BBC.'

William Heath Robinson (1861-1945)

A new game of patience; and Getting along

Details

William Heath Robinson (1861-1945)
A new game of patience; and Getting along
the first signed with initials (lower left) and inscribed 'a new game of patience- /"Spotting the ace" (lower left below mount) and with further annotations; the second inscribed 'HITHERTO HE HAS TO GET ALONG AS BEST HE COULD' (centre right, below mount)
pencil, pen and black ink, unframed
8½ x 9 in. (21.6 x 22.8 cm.); and smaller (2)

Provenance

the artist and thence by descent.

Special notice

Artist's Resale Right ("Droit de Suite"). Artist's Resale Right Regulations 2006 apply to this lot, the buyer agrees to pay us an amount equal to the resale royalty provided for in those Regulations, and we undertake to the buyer to pay such amount to the artist's collection agent.

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