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| Theodore Robinson |
| 1852-1896 |
| American Artist |
| Theodore Robinson was born in Irasburg, Vermont on July 3, 1852. His father was a clergyman; the family lived in Townshend, Vermont until Robinson was three but he was mainly brought up in Evansville, Wisconsin. He grew up to be a frail and slight creature plagued by asthma. This chronic illness cut short his training at the Art Institute of Chicago, but his formal schooling was resumed later at the National Academy of Design in New York City and subsequently abroad. From 1876 to 1878 he studied in Paris under Carolus-Duran, alongside John Singer Sargent, and under Jean-Leon Gerome. In 1879 Robinson returned to the United States and lived mainly in New York and Boston. He earned his living by teaching and by assisting John La Farge and Prentice Treadwell with mosaic and stained glass decorations for the Metropolitan Opera House in New York. The summer of 1882 he spent on Nantucket Island with Abbott Thayer, Joe Evans and other friends, painting daily. His work was impressionistic, not with the capital "I" of the French painters, but in the sober tradition of American plein-air painting. Robinson returned to France in 1884; he worked in Paris and Barbizon and was strongly influenced for a time by the Barbizon school. In 1887 he and a group of young American painters began painting in Giverny where he met Monet. The two formed a thoroughly rewarding friendship. He remained in Giverny until 1892, occasionally making trips back to New York and to Italy. He moved back to New York City in December of 1892. He painted New England scenery, landscapes along the Erie and Delaware Canals and taught outdoor summer classes for Evelyn College in Princeton, New Jersey and for the Brooklyn Art School. His career was cut short on April 2, 1896, when he died of an acute asthmatic attack in New York City. |
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