Product Description

Henry Mayo Bateman was born in Australia in 1887 the son of an English shipper. The family returned to England in 1889. He left school at 16 to study drawing at the Westminster School of Art and Goldsmiths College. In his late teens he produced hsi first humourous drawings and caricatures for "Tatler", "Sketch", Punch" and "Radio Times". He joined the army during the First World War and was invalided out in 1915 with rheumatic fever. Bateman was one of the higest paid cartoonists of his day and produced a considerable amount of work advertising Guiness, among others. His most famous drawing "The Man Who..." series of social gaffes and faux pas first appeared in "Tatler" in 1912. Working in pencil, pen, ink and water-colour, he was a master of the cartoon story without words. He gave up cartooning in 1939 to concentrate on painting and died in 1970. "The Prion Cartoon Classics" are an on-going series show-casing the finest and funniest comic cartoonists of the 20th century from Britain, Europe and the United States.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #84387 in Books
• Published on: 2002-05-02
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 160 pages

Review
Many who use the phrase "like a Bateman cartoon" to describe a social faux pas are too young to remember the heyday of the artist himself. Despite this, the term remains in regular usage 30 years after Henry Mayo Bateman died, 60 years after he gave up cartooning to concentrate on painting and 90 years after he began his famous 'The Man Who.' series of drawings. These depicted people committing awful gaffes - 'The Boy Who Breathed on the Glass at the British Museum' being among the most famous. Over his 50-year career as a cartoonist for magazines like Punch and Tatler, he was, however, responsible for a wider range of work than is now realised, and this welcome collection gathers together some of the best of Bateman's art, well-known and more obscure.

Customer Reviews

Add a few pluses to the 5 stars here:
Timeless humour as expressed by HMB ( as his many devotees around the world know him ) cannot be ' overrated '.

Just start smiling as you look at the cover,relax, and join this artist's whimsical and detailed depictions of a gaffe in just about every conceivable situation. The minute detail of his cartoon characters will provide many hours of enormous pleasure.
All this largely stemming from the typical Englishman's dread of making a social faux pas.

Although born in Australia, HMB spent many of his eighty-three(well almost) years in Devon. Perhaps the tastey clotted
cream fueled his unique talent for drawing ' the clot ' which lurks within us all? Maybe that is what makes him so endearing -- he draws ( in all senses ) our own fears of a gaffe away from ourselves onto some other poor soul !! And how !!

Why buy newspapers: maybe enjoy the odd, topical, cartoon and then be depressed by all the rest of the reading ? Here, for a few pounds you acquire enduring cartoons which will add cheer to any day, anywhere, anytime.As another renowned character would say ( in his TV comedies ) " Go on, you know it makes sense " -- buy it for now, for ever, for yourself or for a friend (maybe even a relative)!

Fantastic - HM Bateman (Prion Cartoon Classics)
Fabulous small red book with brilliant drawings by HM Bateman. For anyone who is interested in cartoons and/or English humour. Appealed to my father and to my young daughter in equal measure. A real gem and a perfect present !!!