Charles Robinson (Illustrator)

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Charles Robinson (born October 22, 1870 in Islington , London , † 1937 ) was a British book illustrator who worked with various illustration techniques such as steel engraving , color lithography and watercolor .

Origin and family

Autumn from the Seasons by Charles Robinson
The rich making merry in their beautiful houses while the beggars were sitting at the gates by Charles Robinson

Charles Robinson was the son of the illustrator Thomas Robinson , his brothers Thomas Heath Robinson and William Heath Robinson were also illustrators. In 1897 Robinson married Edith Mary Favatt in Middlesex . There were four daughters and two sons from the marriage.

Live and act

Robinson began his training as an illustrator at the Highbury School of Art and then completed a seven year apprenticeship at the Waterlow and Sons lithographic printer in Finsbury . During this time he attended evening courses for fine arts in parallel . After he received a place at the Royal Academy of Arts in 1892 , he was unable to attend this course for financial reasons.

At the age of 25 he was able to sell his first works. He developed his own art style, which was influenced by the art movements of Pre-Raphaelism and Art Nouveau . The watercolor paintings by Aubrey Beardsley as well as works of Japanese art and woodcuts by Albrecht Dürer were particularly formative .

His first book illustration was a reprint of Robert Louis Stevenson's A Child's Garden of Verses in 1895. This collection of poems had already been published in 1885 under the title Penny Whistles , but was only successful in the reprint with Robinson's illustrations. He also illustrated new editions a. a. from Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll and the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm .

In the First World War , for reasons of age (he was already forty-four years old), he was not used for military service in the regular troops and therefore joined a voluntary central defense militia, the Volunteer Training Corps , where he last held the rank of second lieutenant .

After the war he resumed his work as an illustrator. Due to the financial situation at the time of the Great Depression , there was no market for expensive illustrated jewelery editions of books, which is why he worked more for magazines . In the last years of his life, Robinson was increasingly active as a painter.

Robinson became a member of the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colors in 1932 . He was also a member of the London Sketch Club , of which he served from 1926 to 1927.

plant

Charles Robinson's work was shaped by contemporary art movements such as Pre-Raphaelism and Art Nouveau. It consists of over 700 images and is very complex due to the combination of different styles. While his engravings are reminiscent of woodcuts by old masters such as Albrecht Dürer, his color lithographs were influenced by Japanese art. There are also some watercolor paintings in the style of Aubrey Beardsley. Robinson's color lithographs in particular have a very unmistakable style. In spite of the sharp contours, the coloring is not flat here, but varies within the areas defined by the contours, which is more typical of Japanese painting.

Works illustrated by Robinson (selection)

Web links

Commons : Charles Robinson  - Collection of Images
personal data
SURNAME Robinson, Charles
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British book illustrator
DATE OF BIRTH October 22, 1870
PLACE OF BIRTH London
DATE OF DEATH 1937