Fougasse, Kenneth Bird (1887 - 1965)

Fougasse original cartoon artwork.

Kenneth Bird known as Fougasse, who served in the Royal Engineers during the First World War, took his pen name from an anti-personnel mine noted for its erratic performance, sometimes it hit the spot and sometimes it didn’t. The only artist to become editor of Punch magazine, Fougasse developed an elegant cartooning style, rendering figures, objects and landscapes in a few bold, fluid lines. One of his most memorable cartoons was ‘Careless Talk Costs Lives’, drawn for a series of government posters in the Second World War.