Robinson, Hal

Almost singularly a landscape painter, New York artist Hal Robinson worked in a period of decline for the realism landscapes of the Hudson River School where the collecting public sought an altered perspective. In light of the growing availability of photographic equipment, artists worked to capture aspects of their subjects that a camera could not. Highly naturalistic in his emphasis, Hal Robinson's work is often described as an infusion of Impressionism and Tonalism, his works being particularly airy and focused on the way light diffused strikes objects of similar palette in a harmonious and peaceful way to result in a hazy and atmospheric rendering of a static environment.

His work is optimistic and bright - perhaps even sleepy and somewhat romantic despite his very excited and dynamic brushstrokes. He started exhibited at the National Academy of Design in 1896 with "The Meadow", exhibiting "After a Spring Rain" at the 1910 Concoran Annual in Washington D.C. and showing at Carnegie international in 1911. Eventually he joined many of his Tonalist and Impressionist contemporaries at the painter’s colony in Old Lyme, Connecticut, working together with some of the most important artists of the period. His work is held today in the permanent collections of the Art Collection, Philadelphia and the Cigna Museum.

Artist Listings & Further Reading:

• E. Benezit Dictionary of Artists, Vol. XI, Gründ, 2006, p. 1182-82
• Who Was Who in American Art 1564-1975: 400 Years of Artists in America, Peter Hastings Falk, 1999
• The Annual Exhibition Record of the National Academy of Design, 1901 – 1950, Peter Hastings Falk, 1990, p. 442