Boardman Robinson

Boardman Robinson, noted for his cartoons, paintings, and murals, was born in 1876 in Somerset, Nova Scotia, Canada.  His childhood years were spent in Wales, but he later moved to the United States to attend the Massachusetts Art School.  Robinson then studied in Paris where he was influenced by the political cartoonist Honore Daumier.  He returned to New York City and became famous as a cartoonist and illustrator for various newspapers and magazines, including Harpers, theTribune, The New York Times, and the New York Morning Telegraph.

Robinson’s black crayon with ink washes was his distinctive style, and he established the grease crayon as a potent implement for drawing editorial cartoons. Approximating the soft-line multi-shade effect of lithography*, the technique was immediately adopted by such other cartoonists as Rollin Kirby, Clive Weed, and Oscar Cesare.

Robinson went to Russia in 1915 with John Reed to view the Revolution, leaving a remunerative position with the New York Tribune. When he returned, he taught at the Art Students League* in New York, influencing another generation of cartoonists, including Edmund Duffy.

Described as a large, burly, sea captain sort of character, with ‘Mike’ as his popular nickname, Robinson became involved in various political causes.  He became a supporter of the Suffragist, a magazine supporting the Congressional Union for Women’s Suffrage.  Many of Robinson’s cartoons were published in The Masses, a radical journal printed during World War I.  He was charged with violating the Espionage Act when the U.S. government objected to his cartoons.  Later he became contributing editor to a radical journal established by Max Eastman called The Liberator.

After teaching at the Art Students League in New York City from 1919 to 1930, Robinson later founded and directed the Broadmoor Academy later renamed the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center.  Along with his cartoons, he is equally known for the mural paintings he executed at the Rockefeller Center.