The Young Shepherd

Born in Brentford-on-Thames, the son of a stockbroker, Robinson began his artistic training at the St John’s Wood Academy and entered the Royal Academy Schools in 1885. After a time sailing around the English coast he continued his studies for three years at the Academie Julian, Paris. His earliest work was naturalistic but under the influence of Puvis de Chavannes and Burne-Jones he developed a symbolist style. In 1914 he moved to Lansdowne House, Holland Park, the block of studios built by Edmund Davis and already occupied by Ricketts and Shannon. For same year he was appointed Professor of Figure Composition and Decoration at Glasgow School of Art, necessitating his being in Scotland for several months every year. He exhibited at the Royal Academy, Royal Watercolour Society, New English Art Club and elsewhere, holding one-man shows at the Biallie, Carfax and Leicester galleries. In addition to his distinctive paintings with their simplified forms, firm outlines and restricted tones he also designed for the theatre and worked as an illustrator and muralist. A memorial exhibition was held at the Royal Academy in 1928 and Leicester Galleries in 1929.