ROBINSON, Theodore (Irasburg, 1852 – New York, 1896)
Theodore Robinson was born on 3 June 1852 in Irasburg, Vermont. The artist spent his childhood in Evansville, Wisconsin and in 1869 undertook his studies at the Art Institute of Chicago. In 1874, after he convalesced from asthma in Colorado, Robinson attended both the National Academy of Design and the Art Student League in New York. Between 1876 and 1879 he travelled to Europe; in Paris he studied with E. A. Carolus-Duran, Jean-Léon Gérôme and probably with Benjamin Constant. The artist also exhibited at the Salon and spent his summer at Grez and Veules. During the Autumn of 1879 Robinson met J. M. Whistler in Venice and right after returned to New York. In the early 1880s Robinson executed a series of decorative paintings for John La Farge in the suburban of Tarrytown near New York. Further accomplishments include an exhibition at the National Academy of Design and the election to Society of American Artists. In 1883 the painter worked for Prentice Treadwell’s decorating firm in Boston executing murals for the Metropolitan Opera House. In the Spring 1884 Robinson returned to France spending his summer at Barbizon and during 1885 he worked in Paris and Holland. The artist probably visited the USA in the late 1886 or in the early 1887. During 1887 he worked at Barbizon, Dieppe, Paris and Giverny and probably met Claude Monet. In 1888, in Paris and Giverny he began a closer friendship with Monet and adopted the Impressionist mode. From 1889 to 1892 with the exception of 1891 Robinson spent his winters in New York and his summers in both Paris and Giverny. In 1890 he was awarded the Webb Prize at the Society of American Artists and later travelled to Capri. In 1891 he visited Frascati before returning to Giverny. In 1893 the painter first travelled to Chicago and Virginia and in the Spring went to Greenwich, Connecticut; he also spent the summer teaching in Napanoch, New York. In 1895 he taught Robert Vonnoh’s classes at Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and had a one-man show at the Macbeth Gallery in New York, then spending the summer in Vermont. Robinson died of an acute asthma attack on 2 April 1896 in New York.
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