Biography
Robin Richmond was born in the USA, spent her childhood in Rome, and obtained her BA and MA at Chelsea School of Art. Robin's work has always examined the spirit of place, but recently has begun to incorporate collage elements to create a jewel-like, mosaic evocation of ancient stones and minerals. She lives in London and in rural France, with working studios in both places..
Before moving to London in 1969, Robin attended classes with Renato Guttuso in Rome. Robin remained at Chelsea until 1974 when she obtained her B.A. in Fine Art. Her teachers at Chelsea included Gillian Ayres, Prunella Clough, Howard Hodgkin, John Hoyland, Ken Kiff, Sean Scully, and Euan Uglow. She completed an MA In the History of Art in 1975, concentrating on Renaissance studies, under Nicholas Wadley. She has taught at many universities and art schools in the years following her graduation including Visiting Professorships at the Universities of California, Yale, and London and also at Camberwell School of Art. She is a fellow of Morse College, Yale University and has twice been Artist in Residence there.
She has written 5 highly acclaimed books on art, 3 for children, and 2 for adults. Her book on the cleaning and restoration of the Sistine Chapel ceiling by Michelangelo was the first published book with images of the newly cleaned frescoes.
She has illustrated 4 children's books (see publications). Since 1994 Robin has focused on her successful international painting career and in 2016 she had her 31st one woman show at the prestigious Curwen Gallery London, which closed its doors in 2017, after four decades of leading exhibitions in London. The gallery published Living Landscape to celebrate a happy, long, and fruitful association with the artist. She has exhibited internationally since 1976, and her work is in museum collections, and in numerous corporate and private collections around the world. In 2012 she was honoured with a French government sponsored retrospective at the Chateau d'Excideuil, and in 2018 she was elected to the Royal Watercolour Society. Her work is exhibited four times a year at the Bankside Gallery in London with the Society. Her painting uses all water-based media and is not exclusively in watercolour. This is a new initiative of the Society.
See Curriculum Vitae for details of exhibitions from 1976 to the present day..