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[Quirky Music]
Marvellous Machines: The Wonderful World of Rowland Emett
tells the story of life and work
of the wonderful inventor Rowland Emett.
One of the things that is really exciting about this exhibition
is that we have all his known surviving automata
which are from the UK.
We have the last automata that he ever made in 1984
it's called 'A Quiet Afternoon in the Cloud Cuckoo Valley'.
and this is the first time it has been seen in public for over 20 years.
We have also got a huge range of his cartoons and drawings.
Rowland Emett grew up in Birmingham
his family moved to Birmingham just before the First World War
and he went to the School of Art on Margaret Street
and when he left the school he went to work in local industries.
Like many artists he worked in the design offices
and he worked for Turner Brothers and Siviter Smith's.
When he was there he decided to submit some cartoons
to Punch magazine because a colleague
at Turner Brothers had sent an article
which they had published.
And his cartoons were eventually accepted by Punch Magazine.
And this enabled Rowland to become a successful cartoonist.
So every issue of Punch magazine he would design a cartoon for
and at the end of the year
they would publish an annual of his cartoons.
Because of this and because of his enthusiasm for trains
he absolutely love the quirky trains that you could see
at the end of the Edwardian period.
He was commissioned by the Festival of Britain committee
to create a wonderful train which people would ride on
at the festival of Britain in London in 1951.
Over 2 million people rode on his
Far Tottering and Oyster Creek Railway.
The Festival of Britain brought Emett to international attention
and he was approached by Life magazine
which was read millions of Americans.
They enabled him to travel around America
and give his eccentric mad Englishmans view of America.
And he spent 6 months creating drawings of
views and people and things that he saw
all around the different states of America.
This was published in 1956
and they give a 12 page spread of his drawings.
And it also enabled him to begin to create
3D models of his drawings
his machine and automata as they are known
because the machines have moving parts to them.
These machines were often commissioned by companies
as their advertising material.
And he worked for, in the 1960s and 1970s,
a number of companies
including companies based in Birmingham.
Such as Slumberland
for Slumberland he created the Hush-a-bye Bed
which was exhibited at Bingley Hall.
At this time he was at the height of his success
he was commissioned to do designs for books
designs for illustrations
designs for greetings cards, Christmas cards
calendar artwork
and also his machines were
travelling around to company offices.
So many people in the country
would have recognised his designs really.
He was often in the weekend supplements of newspapers
and also increasing on television
and we have examples of him
being interviewed by the talk show hosts
of the 1970s and1980s.
[music]