signed & titled
Provenance: Walter Klinkhoff Gallery, Montreal, QC (labels verso)
Exhibited: “Hommage a Albert H. Robinson” (1994), Galerie Walter Klinkhoff, Montreal, QC (No. 48)
Initially self-taught, Robinson obtained work as an illustrator for the Hamilton Times, and attended the Hamilton Art School under John Sloan Gordon. Then, having saved enough money to further his artistic education in France, Robinson travelled abroad. He trained at the Académie Julian and the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. For two additional years he traveled and painted in Normandy and Corsica with the English artist Thomas William Marshall. Upon his return to Canada he contributed to his first group exhibition. Then, with the assistance of supportive arts patrons, Robinson moved to Montreal and was introduced to several prominent artists of the day. Among them, was A. Y. Jackson, with whom he traveled back to France to paint in 1911; this was the first of many sketching trips they would take together. That same year, Robinson exhibited with the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts and became one of the youngest members to be elected associate of the RCA – he became a full member by 1920, the same year that he exhibited alongside the Group of Seven at their first exhibition.
Albert Henry Robinson was an active and well-respected member of the artistic community. He exhibited regularly and he became one of the founding members of the Canadian Group of Painters in 1933. During these prodigious years Robinson and A. Y. Jackson organized regular painting excursions to various picturesque regions of Quebec, travelling with a number of other artists including Edwin Holgate and Clarence Gagnon.
Sadly, Robinson suffered a heart attack in 1933. The deterioration of his health, along with arthritis in his hands, prevented him from painting again. Robinson’s legacy lies in the iconic works painted in Quebec during the years from 1918-1933. Retrospectives of his work were held in 1955 by both the Art Gallery of Hamilton and the National Gallery of Canada.
