Brian Robb Contents Biography Reception Works Bibliography Notes References External links Navigation menu"Artist - Brian Robb""Brian Robb and Life Classes at Chelsea College of Art""Brian Robb and getting a job teaching at Chelsea College of Art""Times Educational Supplement"ArtFact: Brian RobbLTM: Posters by Brian RobbPunch Cartoons: Brian RobbMovie Poster My Teenage Daughter by Brian Robb (1956)Seven Stories: Robb, BrianVideo 1Video 2 Brian Robbecb13340979p(data)0000 0004 5875 5254n50051039xx020438767249w6m19b1r0575818435000307059246559792465597
Lucien-Victor Guirand de ScévolaJean-Louis ForainLoyd A. JonesJohn Graham KerrPaul KleeFranz MarcAlister HardyAndré MareSolomon Joseph SolomonAbbott Handerson ThayerMaximilian TochLeon UnderwoodEdward WadsworthEverett WarnerNorman Wilkinson
English illustratorsCamoufleurs1913 births1979 deathsAlumni of the Slade School of Art20th-century English paintersEnglish male painters
Malvern CollegeChelsea School of ArtSlade School of Fine ArtPunchLondon TransportShellBarbara AnneMiddle East Command Camouflage DirectorateGeoffrey Barkascamouflage officersOperation Bertrambattle of El AlameinTony AyrtonQuentin BlakeRoyal College of ArtEdward Ardizzone
Brian Robb | |
---|---|
Born | 7 May 1913 Scarborough, North Yorkshire, England |
Died | 1979 |
Nationality | English |
Education | Chelsea School of Art Slade School of Fine Art |
Known for | Illustrator, cartoonist; wartime camoufleur |
Spouse(s) | Barbara Robb |
Brian Robb (7 May 1913 – 1979) was a painter, illustrator, and cartoonist. He worked for Shell and London Transport, designing posters and advertisements, and as a cartoonist for Punch magazine. He was a creative camouflage officer in the Western Desert in the Second World War. He taught at Chelsea College of Art before and after the war, before becoming head of illustration at the Royal College of Art.
Contents
1 Biography
1.1 Early life
1.2 Wartime camoufleur
1.3 Post-war artist and teacher
2 Reception
3 Works
4 Bibliography
5 Notes
6 References
7 External links
Biography
Early life
Robb was educated at Malvern College. He studied at Chelsea School of Art from 1930, and at the Slade School of Fine Art from 1935.[1][2]
During the 1930s he became known for his humorous cartoons published in Punch. He was a skilled illustrator, creating both pen-and-ink and watercolour illustrations for books such as The Adventures of Odd and Elsewhere. He was in demand for his ability to design posters for London Transport and advertisements for the Shell oil company, where he had worked for Jack Beddington.[1][2]
In 1937 he married Barbara Anne, founder of the pressure group Aid for the Elderly in Government Institutions (AEGIS) and NHS policy campaigner.
After finishing his education at the Slade, he returned to Chelsea School of Art as a lecturer.[1]
Wartime camoufleur
The head of the Middle East Command Camouflage Directorate, Geoffrey Barkas, always short of skilled camouflage officers, heard that there was an artist working as a private soldier in the Sinai desert. He found Robb sitting, utterly bored, beside a searchlight with nothing to do. Barkas quickly had Robb moved to General Headquarters (GHQ) at Cairo, and promoted to lieutenant as a camouflage officer. Robb's lassitude vanished; he did everything with energy, good humour and enthusiasm.[2]
Robb's ability was put to use in Operation Bertram, the large-scale camouflage and deception operation for the battle of El Alamein. Barkas put Tony Ayrton and Robb in charge of the enormous and complex task of camouflaging Eighth Army's preparations and movements on the genuine attack path in the north, near the coast road, while creating a complete dummy armoured division in the south, near El Munassib in the desert. The dummy stores dump in the south was codenamed "Brian" after Robb. The dump contained 700 false piles of stores, simulating everything from ammunition and petrol to food and engineering tools.[3][4][5][6]
Post-war artist and teacher
After the war, Robb returned to his lecturing job at the Chelsea School of Art, where he inspired a generation of artists such as the illustrator Quentin Blake.[7][8] In 1963, he moved to become head of illustration at the Royal College of Art, taking over from Edward Ardizzone.[9] He retired in 1978.[1]
Reception
Quentin Blake wrote that "Robb's work had a humane, wry, almost teasing character that makes me wish he had set his hand to more children's books than he did. Brian Robb established illustration as a separate strand in the educational life of the college [Chelsea]."[9]
Works
- Books illustrated by Robb
Aesop (trans. S.A. Handford) (1954). Aesop's Fables. Penguin.- Andreyev, Leonid Nikolaevich (trans. Walter Morison) (1947). Judas Iscariot and Other Stories. John Westhouse.
- Anon (1968-9). The Oxford Illustrated Old Testament. Oxford University Press. (in part)
Apuleius (trans. William Adlington) (1947). The Golden Asse of Lucius Apuleius. John Westhouse.
Barkas, Geoffrey (1952). The Camouflage Story. From Aintree to Alamein. Cassell.- Day, Charles William (1946). Hints on Etiquette and the Usages of Society. Turnstile Press.
- De Quincey, A. (1947). The Last of the Dragons. Hamish Hamilton.
Douglas, Alfred (1979). Tails With a Twist: Animal Nonsense Verse. Batsford.
Fielding, Henry(1953). Tom Jones. Macdonald.
Nesbit, Edith (1977). Fairy Stories. Ernest Benn.
Raspe, Rudolph Eric (1947). 12 Adventures of the Celebrated Baron Munchausen. Peter Lunn.- Robb, Brian My Grandmothers Djinn. Deutsch. (1976).
- Robb, Brian (1944). My Middle East Campaigns. Collins.
- Robb, Brian (1979). The Last of the Centaurs. Deutsch.
Roose-Evans, James (1974). Elsewhere & the Clowns. Deutsch.- Roose-Evans, James (1973). Odd and the Great Bear. Deutsch.
- Roose-Evans, James (1975). Odd to the Rescue!. Deutsch.
- Roose-Evans, James (1971). The Adventures of Odd and Elsewhere. Deutsch.
- Roose-Evans, James (1977). The Lost Treasure of Wales. Deutsch.
- Roose-Evans, James (1975). The Return of the Great Bear. Deutsch.
- Roose-Evans, James (1975). The Secret of Tippity Witchit. Deutsch.
- Roose-Evans, James (1972). The Secret of the Seven Bright Shiners. Deutsch.
Sterne, Laurence (1948). A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy. Macdonald.- Sterne, Laurence (1949). The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman. Macdonald.
- de Quincey, T. (1948). My Kingdom for a Cow!. Hamish Hamilton.
- Paintings
- Gondolas, Venice[10]
Bibliography
- Camouflage
Barkas, Geoffrey; Barkas, Natalie (1952). The Camouflage Story (from Aintree to Alamein). Cassell..mw-parser-output cite.citationfont-style:inherit.mw-parser-output .citation qquotes:"""""""'""'".mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-free abackground:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Lock-green.svg/9px-Lock-green.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-registration abackground:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-gray-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-subscription abackground:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-red-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registrationcolor:#555.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription span,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration spanborder-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help.mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon abackground:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg/12px-Wikisource-logo.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center.mw-parser-output code.cs1-codecolor:inherit;background:inherit;border:inherit;padding:inherit.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-errordisplay:none;font-size:100%.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-errorfont-size:100%.mw-parser-output .cs1-maintdisplay:none;color:#33aa33;margin-left:0.3em.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration,.mw-parser-output .cs1-formatfont-size:95%.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-leftpadding-left:0.2em.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-rightpadding-right:0.2em
Crowdy, Terry (2008). Deceiving Hitler: Double Cross and Deception in World War II. Osprey.
Rankin, Nicholas (2008). Churchill's Wizards: The British Genius for Deception 1914-1945. Faber.
Stroud, Rick (2012). The Phantom Army of Alamein: How the Camouflage Unit and Operation Bertram Hoodwinked Rommel. Bloomsbury.
- Art
Horne, Alan (1994). Dictionary of 20th Century British Book Illustrators. British Antique Collectors' Club.
Notes
References
^ abcd "Artist - Brian Robb". London Transport Museum. 2010. Retrieved 15 November 2012.
^ abc Stroud, 2012. p181.
^ Rankin, 2008. pp365-366.
^ Barkas, 1952. pp186-212.
^ Crowdy, 2008. pp178-181
^ Stroud, 2012. p198.
^ Blake, Quentin (2012). "Brian Robb and Life Classes at Chelsea College of Art". Web of Stories. Retrieved 15 November 2012.
^ Blake, Quentin (2012). "Brian Robb and getting a job teaching at Chelsea College of Art". Web of Stories. Retrieved 15 November 2012.
^ ab Blake, Quentin. "Times Educational Supplement". The Next Generation. TES. Retrieved 15 November 2012.
^ ArtFact: Brian Robb. Retrieved 15 November 2012.
External links
- LTM: Posters by Brian Robb
- Punch Cartoons: Brian Robb
- Movie Poster My Teenage Daughter by Brian Robb (1956)
- Seven Stories: Robb, Brian
Video 1 Video 2 Quentin Blake on Brian Robb at Chelsea College of Art
Brian Robb at Library of Congress Authorities, with 8 catalogue records