DOI issue:
Nr. 232 (June 1915)
DOI article:Johnson, Alfred Edwin: The line drawings of W. Heath Robinson
DOI Page / Citation link: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.43461#0351
The Line Drawings of ID. Heath Robinson
published by Mr. Nutt, and had collaborated with
his brothers T. H. Robinson and Charles Robinson
in a series of drawings for Hans Andersen’s tales,
published by Mr. Dent.
Following upon the Hans Andersen volume (in
which his contributions formed the least part)
Mr. Heath Robinson prepared an extensive and
somewhat elaborate series of illustrations to “The
Arabian Nights ” for Messrs. Constable. Then
came the drawings for Poe issued by Messrs. Bell,
which perhaps mark his real starting-point. At
all events he developed in these a style which,
though still experimental and far from matured,
expressed more definitely the individuality which
previous efforts had tentatively suggested.
Poe’s mystic vision and the vague but vast
imagery which he employs made a strong appeal
DECORATION FOR HANS ANDERSEN
(CONSTABLE) BY W. HEATH ROBINSON
A STUDY BY W. HEATH ROBINSON
to the artist’s temperament. He found himself
at work upon a subject with which he felt in
sympathy—a subject so congenial to his own imagi-
native instincts as to relieve his mind of that
concern with the author’s literary motive and
idea which to illustrators of Mr. Heath Robinson’s
type is always something of a bane.
It was natural, perhaps, that with this liberty he
should vent considerable energy upon the technical
details of his task, and it is for this reason that the
Poe drawings provide a clue to the native peculi-
arities of Mr. Heath Robinson’s technique.
Briefly, the most outstanding feature of these
drawings is the artist’s frequent endeavour to pro-
duce a variety of tones in his pen and ink medium.
He is often merely concerned with the arrange-
ment of masses, including that solid black of
which he still greatly favours the use, and of line
work, as ordinarily understood, there is compara-
tively little. The pen is sometimes used rather as
a general utility tool-of-all-work than the delicate
instrument of pure line.
The Poe volume was succeeded by a series of
illustrations for “ Don Quixote,” issued by Mr.
Dent, which exhibit a notable development of the
artist’s method. The Poe drawings were more
227
published by Mr. Nutt, and had collaborated with
his brothers T. H. Robinson and Charles Robinson
in a series of drawings for Hans Andersen’s tales,
published by Mr. Dent.
Following upon the Hans Andersen volume (in
which his contributions formed the least part)
Mr. Heath Robinson prepared an extensive and
somewhat elaborate series of illustrations to “The
Arabian Nights ” for Messrs. Constable. Then
came the drawings for Poe issued by Messrs. Bell,
which perhaps mark his real starting-point. At
all events he developed in these a style which,
though still experimental and far from matured,
expressed more definitely the individuality which
previous efforts had tentatively suggested.
Poe’s mystic vision and the vague but vast
imagery which he employs made a strong appeal
DECORATION FOR HANS ANDERSEN
(CONSTABLE) BY W. HEATH ROBINSON
A STUDY BY W. HEATH ROBINSON
to the artist’s temperament. He found himself
at work upon a subject with which he felt in
sympathy—a subject so congenial to his own imagi-
native instincts as to relieve his mind of that
concern with the author’s literary motive and
idea which to illustrators of Mr. Heath Robinson’s
type is always something of a bane.
It was natural, perhaps, that with this liberty he
should vent considerable energy upon the technical
details of his task, and it is for this reason that the
Poe drawings provide a clue to the native peculi-
arities of Mr. Heath Robinson’s technique.
Briefly, the most outstanding feature of these
drawings is the artist’s frequent endeavour to pro-
duce a variety of tones in his pen and ink medium.
He is often merely concerned with the arrange-
ment of masses, including that solid black of
which he still greatly favours the use, and of line
work, as ordinarily understood, there is compara-
tively little. The pen is sometimes used rather as
a general utility tool-of-all-work than the delicate
instrument of pure line.
The Poe volume was succeeded by a series of
illustrations for “ Don Quixote,” issued by Mr.
Dent, which exhibit a notable development of the
artist’s method. The Poe drawings were more
227