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Rube Goldberg

Monkey Throws Coconuts Which Turn Wheel..., ca. 1941-1945

Description

Maker

  • Rube Goldberg, 1883-1970, American

Title

Monkey Throws Coconuts Which Turn Wheel...

Year

ca. 1941-1945

Medium

Pen and ink and graphite with touches of white gouache on paper

Materials/Techniques

Materials

  • pen and ink,
  • white heightening

Supports

  • Stiff Bristol board

Dimensions

35.6 x 50.8 cm (14 x 20 inches)

Signature / Inscription / Marks

Signed, LR:Rube Goldberg Inscribed: "Monkey throws coconuts which turn wheel made up of broomsticks and helmets--wash is dunked in tub by plungers as shaft turns--GI plays saxophone to give monkey proper rhythm."

Type

  • Works on Paper,
  • Drawings and Watercolors

Credit

Gift of T. Robley Louttit, Jr.

Object Number

1991.162.2

Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Draw Me a Story

April 14 - July 23, 2006

Rube Goldberg published nearly 50,000 cartoons. He began his career as a cartoonist for the San Francisco Chronicle under the leadership of William Randolph Hearst, and eventually moved to New York to work for such publications as the Evening Mail. Goldberg’s specialty was the creation of imaginary machines that posited elaborate mechanizations for simple tasks. While in one sense celebratory of modern technology, such inventions also function as metaphors for the absurdities of bureaucracy and the baroque methods of government, or, as in this case, the illogical machinations of the world at war. Produced during the years of the Second World War, Goldberg imagines a new technique by which the GI stationed in the tropics could do his laundry.

Use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use. This object is in Copyright. This object is Monkey Throws Coconuts Which Turn Wheel... with the accession number of 1991.162.2. To request high-resolution files or new photography, please send an email to imagerequest@risd.edu and include your name and the object's accession number.

Feedback

We view our online collection as a living documents, and our records are frequently revised and enhanced. If you have additional information or have spotted an error, please send feedback to curatorial@risd.edu.

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