Skip to main content
Florence Vincent Robinson
1874–1937
BirthplaceTaunton, Massachusetts, United States of America
Death placePetersham, Massachusetts, United States of America
BiographyFlorence Vincent Robinson established her career as a watercolor painter of picturesque views of scenes in Europe and North Africa as well as floral and garden subjects. Robinson was born in Taunton, Massachusetts, and grew up near Boston. She eventually broke with her wealthy family over her decision to become a professional artist. Robinson had already exhibited her work at the Boston Art Club, in 1893, and at the Boston gallery of Williams & Everett before she went to Paris for further study. Her most important teacher was French watercolorist Pierre Vignal (1855–1925); she also studied with landscape painter Henri-Joseph Harpignies (1819–1916) and Pascal Adolphe Jean Dagnan-Bouveret (1852–1929), painter of naturalistic peasant scenes.
In Paris Robinson had a work accepted into the prestigious juried annual exhibition known as the Salon and she joined the Société des Aquarellistes Français (Society of French Watercolor Painters). She continued to exhibit at the Boston Art Club, participated in the 1904 World's Exposition in St. Louis, and showed her work repeatedly in the Art Institute of Chicago's annual watercolor exhibition. Until World War I, however, Robinson spent much of her time abroad, painting in France, Italy, and Spain. She later visited Cuba and North Africa and made several return visits to Europe. Solo shows for Robinson were mounted in 1915 and 1928 at galleries in New York City, where she lived periodically in the 1910s and 1920s. She also lived with her close friend Margaret Hewson Reynolds and her husband, in homes in Hanover, New Hampshire, and later in Petersham, New Hampshire; the Reynolds' descendants inherited her estate.
Robinson was elected an associate member of the American Watercolor Society in 1916 and a full member four years later. Her watercolor paintings were received enthusiastically by critics for their fine technical qualities and charming subjects. The French government acquired two of her landscape paintings in 1918 and 1921, and a series of her scenes painted in Spain joined the collection of the Hispanic Society of America in New York in 1922. Despite this moderate success, however, Robinson seems not to have been very widely known, and remains a relatively obscure figure today.
In Paris Robinson had a work accepted into the prestigious juried annual exhibition known as the Salon and she joined the Société des Aquarellistes Français (Society of French Watercolor Painters). She continued to exhibit at the Boston Art Club, participated in the 1904 World's Exposition in St. Louis, and showed her work repeatedly in the Art Institute of Chicago's annual watercolor exhibition. Until World War I, however, Robinson spent much of her time abroad, painting in France, Italy, and Spain. She later visited Cuba and North Africa and made several return visits to Europe. Solo shows for Robinson were mounted in 1915 and 1928 at galleries in New York City, where she lived periodically in the 1910s and 1920s. She also lived with her close friend Margaret Hewson Reynolds and her husband, in homes in Hanover, New Hampshire, and later in Petersham, New Hampshire; the Reynolds' descendants inherited her estate.
Robinson was elected an associate member of the American Watercolor Society in 1916 and a full member four years later. Her watercolor paintings were received enthusiastically by critics for their fine technical qualities and charming subjects. The French government acquired two of her landscape paintings in 1918 and 1921, and a series of her scenes painted in Spain joined the collection of the Hispanic Society of America in New York in 1922. Despite this moderate success, however, Robinson seems not to have been very widely known, and remains a relatively obscure figure today.