Charles Dorman Robinson (alternate: Charles Dormon Robinson; nickname: C.D.) (July 17, 1847 - May 8, 1933) was an American panorama,

cyclorama A cyclorama is a panoramic image on the inside of a cylindrical platform, designed to give viewers standing in the middle of the cylinder a 360° view, and also a building designed to show a panoramic image. The intended effect is to make view ...

, landscape, and marine painter. He is known for his seascapes and landscapes of Northern California, including over a hundred paintings of

Yosemite Valley Yosemite Valley ( ; ''Yosemite'', Miwok for "killer") is a glacial valley in Yosemite National Park in the western Sierra Nevada mountains of Central California. The valley is about long and deep, surrounded by high granite summits such as Hal ...

. He was known as "the dean of Pacific Coast artists".

Early years

He was born in East Monmouth, Maine in 1847 His father, the druggist Dr. David G. "Yankee" Robinson, established some of

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

's first theaters: The Dramatic Museum, in 1850; the Adelphi, in 1851; and the American in 1852. His mother was Mariette (née Dorman). Both of his parents' families were

Colonialists Colonialism is a practice or policy of control by one people or power over other people or areas, often by establishing colonies and generally with the aim of economic dominance. In the process of colonisation, colonisers may impose their relig ...

; the Dormans were English army people and the Robinsons were Puritans. While in San Francisco, Robinson attended Union Grammar School (1854–61) and received his first art lessons from

Charles Christian Nahl Carl Christian Heinrich Nahl (October 18, 1818 – March 1, 1878), later known as Charles Nahl (sometimes he is recorded as Karl Nahl, Charles Christian Nahl or Charles C. Nahl), was a German-born painter who lived in the United States for the las ...

. After his father disappeared, Robinson moved to Vermont with his mother where he attended North Troy Higher Academy (1861–64). In art, he was a student of William Bradford, 1862, Boston;

George Inness George Inness (May 1, 1825 – August 3, 1894) was a prominent American landscape painter. Now recognized as one of the most influential American artists of the nineteenth century, Inness was influenced by the Hudson River School at the s ...

, Boston, 1862-3; Mauritz de Haas and Régis François Gignoux, New York. He studied under

Eugène Boudin Eugène Louis Boudin (; 12 July 18248 August 1898) was one of the first French landscape painters to paint outdoors. Boudin was a marine painter, and expert in the rendering of all that goes upon the sea and along its shores. His pastels, summary ...

for a year at the age of 19. He consulted with Samuel W. Griggs, Wallace Albert King,

Jasper Francis Cropsey Jasper Francis Cropsey (February 18, 1823 – June 22, 1900) was an important American landscape artist of the Hudson River School. Early years Cropsey was born on his father Jacob Rezeau Cropsey's farm in Rossville on Staten Island, New Yor ...

Albert Bierstadt Albert Bierstadt (January 7, 1830 – February 18, 1902) was a German-American painter best known for his lavish, sweeping landscapes of the American West. He joined several journeys of the Westward Expansion to paint the scenes. He was not ...

, and James Hamilton.

Career

Early in his career, Robinson established his reputation as a professional painter after exhibiting marine paintings of the San Francisco Bay. In the 1860s and 1870s, he made painting trips through Central America and Mexico. By 1876, he had regular painting exhibits, the works influenced by the styles of

Hudson River School The Hudson River School was a mid-19th century American art movement embodied by a group of landscape painters whose aesthetic vision was influenced by Romanticism. The paintings typically depict the Hudson River Valley and the surrounding area ...

and

En plein air ''En plein air'' (; French for 'outdoors'), or ''plein air'' painting, is the act of painting outdoors. This method contrasts with studio painting or academic rules that might create a predetermined look. The theory of 'En plein air' painting ...

. His illustrations and writing were included in '' Overland Monthly'' and ''

The Century Magazine ''The Century Magazine'' was an illustrated monthly magazine first published in the United States in 1881 by The Century Company of New York City, which had been bought in that year by Roswell Smith and renamed by him after the Century Associatio ...

''. Robinson received art awards from the California State Agricultural Society in 1878; and he received the gold medal for best collection of paintings in the exhibit of 1902. He lost 30 years worth of his sketches and paintings in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire. Robinson was known for his seascapes and landscapes of Northern California. His paintings include, ''Ruins in Central America'', 1870; ''Cyclorama of Yosemlte Valley'', by , 1894; ''Burning of San Francisco'', by , 1906; and ''Grand Canyon of Arizona'', by . In 1892, assisted by five other well-established artists, Robinson began what would be one of the largest pictures ever painted in California, the ''Panorama of Yosemite''. One of his paintings hangs in Buckingham Palace, 67 of his paintings are in Great Britain; his paintings were presented to

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previo ...

and to King Prajadhipok of

Siam Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

. An untitled seascape and ''The Wet Sand'' are part of the collection at the

Oakland Museum The Oakland Museum of California or OMCA (formerly the Oakland Museum) is an interdisciplinary museum dedicated to the art, history, and natural science of California, located adjacent to Oak Street, 10th Street, and 11th Street in Oakland, Cal ...

. Other collections of his work include the 1860 ''California Panorama'' at the Bancroft Library, while others are held by the

Society of California Pioneers The Society of California Pioneers, established in 1850, is dedicated to the study and enjoyment of California art, history, and culture. Founded by individuals arriving in California before 1850 and thriving under the leadership of several gener ...

, Maritime Museum of San Francisco,

Crocker Art Museum The Crocker Art Museum is the oldest art museum in the Western United States, located in Sacramento, California. Founded in 1885, the museum holds one of the premier collections of Californian art. The collection includes American works dating f ...

, the Bohemian Club, and the

Nevada Museum of Art The Nevada Museum of Art, is an art museum in Reno, Nevada. Located at 160 West Liberty Street in Reno, it is the only American Alliance of Museums (AAM) accredited art museum in the state of Nevada. The museum has chosen a thematic approach, placi ...

. A 1921 home fire destroyed many of his California paintings. Robinson served as President of the Palette Club of San Francisco; and Dean of the Artists of California, since 1906. He was a member of the Bohemian Club and the

San Francisco Art Association The San Francisco Art Association (SFAA) was an organization that promoted California artists, held art exhibitions, published a periodical, and established the first art school west of Chicago. The SFAA – which, by 1961, completed a long sequence ...

Personal life

He married Kathryn Evelyn Wright, cousin of Elmer E. Ellsworth, in 1874 in

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

, and they moved to

Alameda, California Alameda ( ; ; Spanish for " tree-lined path") is a city in Alameda County, California, located in the East Bay region of the Bay Area. The city is primarily located on Alameda Island, but also spans Bay Farm Island and Coast Guard Island, as we ...

the next year. Since 1876 he made his home in San Rafael and had an office on

Montgomery Street Montgomery Street is a north-south thoroughfare in San Francisco, California, in the United States. It runs about 16 blocks from the Telegraph Hill neighborhood south through downtown, terminating at Market Street. South of Columbus Avenue ...

in San Francisco. Starting in 1880, Yosemite was his summer residence for the next 24 years; and he resided in Paris during the 1900 Exposition. He died at his San Rafael home in 1933. He had at least one child, a daughter, Lillian.

Partial works

* (1878), ''Argonaut sketch book : f theMechanics' Fair, August, 1878'' * (1882), ''The Wawona hotel. An illustrated sketch of the sights and scenes around the Mariposa big trees station''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Robinson, Charles Dormon 1847 births 1933 deaths People from Monmouth, Maine American landscape painters People from San Rafael, California Yosemite National Park Artists from San Francisco 19th-century American painters American male painters 20th-century American painters 20th-century American male artists 19th-century American male artists