Harry “Hal” Robinson [1867-1933]
American Impressionist / Tonalist Painter
Lake in Hillside Vista, ca.1900
oil on canvas
10 x 12 inches
Signed at lower right.
Harry “Hal” Robinson is an English-American Realist / Impressionist landscape painter in oil and watercolor. Born in 1867 in Leominster, County Hereford, England to Hannah G. [b.1844] and Dr. Henry Robinson [b.1844] a physician and chemist, he traveled to America in 1893 with his brother. Robinson received his artistic training in Europe, possibly at the Liverpool John Moores School.
As an artist, Robinson was known for his impressionist works in oil and watercolor with impasto. Many of his works have a soft, atmospheric quality depicting views of rural New York State.
Robinson began exhibiting in 1896 at the National Academy of Design. He showed at James Rice, New York, NY, the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, Katz and Snedecor Galleries/Babcock Galleries, New York, NY and at the Lauterbach Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY. Robinson also participated in the inaugural exhibition of the Allied Artists of America, in 1914.
Snedecor Gallery/Babcock Galleries held a solo exhibit for the artist in 1912. He would show regularly at the gallery until 1916. Robinson had a second solo show in 1914 featuring alla prima scenes painted in western CT. In 1916 he showed at the Marshall Field Art Gallery, Chicago, IL.
Robinson may have been part of the colony of artists working at Old Lyme, CT, ca.1910-1915 but no recorded proof can be found.
There is a large gap in Robin’s painting career and picks up in 1925 where he exhibited as part of the Philippine Cigar Exhibit and in 1929, he participated in his last known exhibit at the local Mahopac Firemen’s Fair.
Robinson died after suffering a heart attack at Mahopac Falls on Saturday the 18th of March 1933 at the age of sixty-five.
– Original biography by David Smernoff, From Here To Antiquity, October 16, 2016.
EXHIBITIONS
1929 Mahopac Firemen’s Fair, Mahopac, NY
1925 Philippine Cigar Exhibit
1916 Lotus Club “Unhung” National Academy Exhibition, New York, NY
1916 Marshall Field Art Galleries, Chicago, IL
1914 Allied Artists of America Inaugural Exhibition, New York, NY
1913 Arnot Art Gallery – American Federation of the Arts Exhibition, Elmira, NY
1913 Lauterbach Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY
1913 Babcock & Snedecor Galleries “All American” Exhibition, New York, NY
1912, 1913, 1914, 1916 Snedecor Galleries, New York, NY
1910 James Rice Art Rooms, New York, NY
1910 Katz Gallery, “Thumb Box” Exhibition, New York, NY
1910 Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
1896, 1909-1911 National Academy of Design, New York, NY
COLLECTIONS
– Cigna Museum and Art Collection, Philadelphia, PA
SOURCES
– “Original biography researched, compiled, and written” by Geoffrey K. Fleming, Executive Director, Huntington Museum of Art, Huntington, WV.