Wednesday 11 March 2009

Off the shelf: H M Bateman

‘The Colonel implores his daughter to be reasonable’ is one of my favourite cartoons by Henry Mayo Bateman. Described by GK Chesterton as ‘the master of wild exactitude’ (whatever that means), Bateman became very successful during the ‘20s and ‘30s mainly through his ‘The Man Who…’ series for the Tatler.
Like many cartoonists he really wanted to be a serious artist but didn’t quite make the grade – it was said of him that he ‘lacked a sense of humour.’
This drawing comes from a collection called ‘Colonels,’ published in 1925, but here is reproduced from a biography, predictably titled ‘The Man Who Was H.M. Bateman,’ from 1982.

2 comments:

Eleanor said...

Have you read any Saki (H H Monroe)?

His collected short stories deserves to be your next Amazon purchase.

Eleanor Tyrrell

nonstickplans said...

No, I haven't read any Saki, Eleanor. Thanks for the tip-off.
It says on Wikipedia that his work is in the public domain so I may not need to paddle all the way back up the Amazon. I can avoid the misquotos.