One of the first American painters to respond to the innovations of Impressionism, Theodore Robinson combined the light and coloristic concerns of that aesthetic with the solid draftsmanship, carefully articulated designs, and representational realism that reflected the legacy of his former academic training. An unpretentious artist with a strong work ethic, he painted his most celebrated work in Giverny, France, where he established close ties to Claude Monet. However, while the legendary Frenchman set an important example for Robinson, he created his own personal brand of Impressionism that served him well––bringing him acclaim from contemporary critics and patronage from a coterie of esteemed collectors that included William T. Evans and George A. Hearn.
Born in Irasburg, Vermont, Robinson was the son of a minister, Elijah Robinson, and his wife, Ellen Brown Robinson. In 1856, the family settled in Evansville, Wisconsin, where Robinson’s father operated a clothing store. Upon completed his schooling at the Evansville Seminary in 1869, Robinson studied art in Chicago, after which he returned to Evansville and undertook portrait commissions to support himself and accumulate the funds that would enable him to resume his training.
Robinson subsequently went to New York in 1874, continuing his studies at the National Academy of Design until the autumn of 1875, when he traveled to Paris, where he received instruction from the portrait and figure painter Emile Auguste Carolus-Duran, whose painterly style influenced his early work. He also attended Jean-Léon Gérôme’s classes at the prestigious École des Beaux-Arts, absorbing his teacher’s penchant for solid draftsmanship. In the summer of 1877––the year his Une Jeune Fille was exhibited at the Paris Salon––Robinson visited the artists’ colony at Grèz-sur-Loing, where he fraternized with fellow American artists such as Will Hickok Low and Birge Harrison. From September until mid-December of 1878, he traveled throughout Italy, exploring Turin, Milan, Verona, and Venice. Returning to America in 1879, Robinson divided his time between New York, Boston, and Nantucket, supporting himself through teaching, executing decorative commissions, and working as an illustrator for magazines such as Century and Scribner’s––the latter experience contributing to his enduring concern for drawing.
Intent on focusing his attention on easel painting, Robinson returned to France in the spring of 1884, spending his time in Paris, as well as in rural locales such as Barbizon, Cernay-la-Ville, and Grèz-sur-Loing, where he painted landscapes in muted, low-keyed hues. Robinson may have made his first visit to Giverny, the small agricultural village on the Seine, about fifty miles northwest of Paris. as early as 1885, when his friend and fellow painter Ferdinand Deconchy is said to have introduced him to Monet. (For Robinson’s involvement with the Giverny art colony, see William H. Gerdts, Monet’s Giverny: An Impressionist Colony [New York: Abbeville Press, 1993].)
Towards the end of 1886 or very early in 1887, Robinson returned to the United States. However, the allure of France soon prompted him to cross the Atlantic once again. Robinson was back in Paris by late January 1887, honing his skills as a pleinairiste by painting with the Canadian artist William Blair Bruce in Barbizon that winter and the following spring. A few months later, Robinson was among the group of artists––including Bruce and fellow Americans such as John Leslie Breck, Louis Ritter, Willard Metcalf, Theodore Wendel, and others––whose summer sojourn in Giverny marked the founding of what became a flourishing international art colony. While the presence of Monet, who had settled there in 1883, was no doubt a vital factor in Giverny’s rapid emergence as a gathering place for foreign artists, the village––an easy commute by train from the French capital––offered unspoiled pastoral scenery, picturesque, red-roofed cottages and churches, as well as affordable accommodations at the local Hôtel Baudy. Drawn to this unpretentious hamlet nestled in the Seine Valley, Robinson spent most of his time in Giverny from 1888 to 1892.
While Monet typically avoided the company of the numerous painters who flocked to Giverny. Robinson was an exception. One of the few members of the first generation American Givernois to interact with the famous Frenchman––who ultimately became his friend and an informal mentor––Robinson quickly abandoned his dark, Barbizon manner and began experimenting with the strategies of Impressionism. Taking his cue from Monet, Robinson went on to paint lyrical landscapes in which he captured the fleeting effects of light and air at different times of day and under varying climatic conditions. But he did so on his own terms and in his own distinctive way. Indeed, while Monet employed brilliant high-keyed hues and used fractured brushwork to dissolve forms in space, Robinson adhered to a more tempered approach, lightening his palette, and loosening his technique while retaining his concern for traditional precepts of form and composition.
