Collections record Beta

Ink Drawing and Collage - "H Bomb"

1972-18-4

Abstract drawing rendered in ink wash with applied elements. Thick black and grey strokes forming a mushroom cloud shape (exploding hydrogen bomb) while also giving the impression of a skull. Pasted in the skull's eyes and nose are paper caps from a cap pistol, forming "x" shapes. In pencil at center-left, "H Bomb."

After graduating from Yale, Robert Osborn studied painting in Rome and Paris before returning to Connecticut to teach art and philosophy at the Hotchkiss School in Lakeville. He developed his distinct illustration style while drawing Navy training manuals during World War II, most of which featured a character named Dilbert whose blunders illustrated improper safety procedures. After the war, Osborn’s satirical cartoons appeared regularly in magazines such as The New Republic, Life, and Esquire. He also wrote and illustrated books on topics ranging from fishing and hunting to war and social issues. Between 1947 and 1994, illustrator Robert Chesley Osborn lived with his wife in Salisbury, Connecticut. Among his close friends were Rufus and Leslie Stillman of Litchfield.

• Osborn, Robert Chesley, 1904-1994

1952

Frame 31" x 22" Work 30" x 21"

• ink
• collage
• paper