Albert Henry Robinson (1881 to 1956)
About the Artist:
Albert Henry Robinson was a native Hamiltonian who studied with John S. Gordon during the evenings and worked for the Hamilton Times as a chalk plate artist during the day. In 1903, he left for Paris and continued his training at the Julian Academy with Bouguereau and Bachet, and then with Ferrier at the École des Beaux-Arts. Robinson was greatly influenced by the impressionists and remarked years later that they had " their eyes open spiritually." After returning to Hamilton, John S. Gordon hired him as an assistant and then as an instructor at the Hamilton Art School. In 1906 Robinson sold his first piece of work at a three-man exhibition organized by Harry Neyland , but the real turning point in his career occurred in 1908 when Robinson met a Montreal couple, visiting in Hamilton. The Davis's recognized his talent and encouraged him to come to Montreal declaring that, "Albert won't amount to a hill of beans here." They introduced him to many great artists of the day including A.Y. Jackson who became a close friend, and they continued to support and sponsor him throughout his career.
The two artists went on many sketching trips together and between 1918 and 1933, they travelled along the shores of the St. Lawrence and in the Laurentians, where Robinson painted many landscapes, which constitute the bulk of his work."Robinson's fame rests today on his oils which record the Quebec countryside. He painted snowbound villages, floating ice in springtime rivers, and the quiet summer valleys and hillsides in the Eastern Townships"
Stuart McCuaig
Climbing the Cold White Peaks : a survey of artists in and from Hamilton 1910 -1950
About the Painting:
oil on canvas
In 1921 Robinson painted with Jackson in Cacouna and, as Thomas R. Lee points out, this “was the first of a series of interesting and productive trips” made by the two artists. He is known as a most distinguished colourist, "of the first order", according to the Group of Seven’s Dr. Arthur Lismer. Robinson had a notable awareness of modernist techniques, and he rendered his paintings successfully by reducing the landscape to only its most essential, and joyous elements. He is also greatly admired for his ability to accomplish the remarkable task of delivering harmonious compositions in low tone and high key.
In 1956 Thomas R. Lee refered to a description of Robinson’s work as "‘purely Canadian – with no trace of European influence’". He describes the artist himself as "A Painter’s Painter" with "…no commercial influence at all; he painted for the love of painting" .
(Thomas R. Lee, Albert H. Robinson: "A Painter’s Painter", Private pub.; no page number).
The career of Albert Robinson has been celebrated and honoured numerously, beginning with a joint retrospective exhibition by the Art Gallery of Hamilton and the National Gallery of Canada in 1955, and subsequent exhibitions at the Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery in 1982-83, and at Galerie Walter Klinkhoff in 1994. His paintings can be found in the permanent collections of the Luxembourg, in Paris, the National Gallery of Canada, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Musée National des Beaux-Arts du Quebec, Canada House in London, England and several other institutions.
