Louis Hellman
B.Arch; Hon Doc Uni; MBE
Louis Hellman has for the past four decades drawn cartoons commenting on the
world of architecture and planning for The Architects' Journal and Building
Design as well as caricaturing famous architects in the style of their buildings
for the Architectural Review, subsequently collected in a book, Archi-tetes.
The Id in the Grid (Academy 2000).
Other books include All Hellman Breaks Loose (1980), Architecture
for Beginners (1986), Do It With An Architect (1999)
and Architecture
A to Z. A Rough Guide (2001).
Hellman studied at the Bartlett School of Architecture, University
College London and the Ecole des Beaux Arts, Paris. He worked as an
architect for YRM, the GLC and the Spastics Society (now SCOPE) before
branching out on his own to design home adaptations for disabled people
as well as healthcare buildings.
Hellman has had exhibitions at the Architectural Association (1979),
Interbuild (1991 and 1993), Cambridge (1996), Sir John Soane’s
Museum (2000), Barcelona (2001) and Shrewsbury (2006). He has exhibited
at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition every year since 1998.
He has contributed cartoons to numerous publications including Design
Week, Private Eye, Punch, The Observer, The Guardian, The Independent,
New Society, The
Statesman and The Evening Standard and written
many articles, reviews and critical appraisals in the professional
press.
He has lectured extensively in the UK, Australia and the
United States.
Louis Hellman received an MBE in 1993 for services to architecture
and an Honorary Degree from Oxford Brookes University in 2002.
Quotes
...as for the parody of architectural styles, Hellman's
eye is unerring. Brilliant use of photomontage adds to his power. All
this, combined with his ability to expose the pretensions of architects,
makes him devastating. He is a great cartoonist in the English Tradition
whose field happens to be architecture. Above all, he is very funny.
Gavin Stamp
The Hellman cartoons are by far the best architectural
lampooning known to me.
Sir Nikolaus Pevsner
Hellman is not only up-to-date with all the jargon
but well grounded in history, and I feel that he would take no more
for granted in the seventeenth century than the twentieth.
Asa Briggs
[Hellman]... manages to combine beautifully the changing
architectural styles and the historic events that surround them...
So simple but so telling. I applaud his humour and his appreciation
of the little man's part in the scheme of things. But this is no laughing
matter, and I believe that nobody realises it more than him.
Ralph Steadman
Instagram
Art, cartoons and illustrations
Books for Sale
Available from Amazon, click on the title for more information:
Do It With an Architect
Architecture for Beginners
Archi-têtes: The Id in the Grid
Architecture A-Z A Rough Guide
A is for Architect
Seven Ages of the Architect
All Hellman Breaks Loose