Early Life & Education
Virginia Isabel Robinson was born in western Adair county, Missouri on November 16, 1894. Her parents were William Avery, a cattle rancher, and Georgia Lewis Hall Robinson. She lived with her parents, sister, and brother on "Eagle Ranch." Later in life, she would return to Missouri to live out her remaining years.
Robinson's lengthy education included studying drawing, design, and architecture at the University of Missouri. She then received her Master of Arts degree at Columbia University in 1925. Robinson also studied at Boothbay Harbor, Maine; Otis Art Institute, Los Angeles; Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center; Cranbrook Art Academy, Michigan; and the Chouinard School of Art, California.
During her time in New York, Robinson was most likely influenced by American artist and educator Arthur Wesley Dow. Dow taught and influenced other prominent artists such as Georgia O'Keeffe. His teachings of harmonious compositions can be seen clearly throughout Robinson’s work. Soon after her move to Canyon in 1927, a greater level of abstraction can be seen in her paintings, indicating the influence of Modernist painting in New York at the time.
Robinson traveled extensively during her life, furthering her art education. In 1926, she visited the major galleries of England, France, Italy, The Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Austria, and The Czech Republic (formerly Czechoslovakia), with Chicago sculptor Lorado Taft and a group of students. Later, she would visit nearly all the U.S., including Hawaii and Alaska, as well as Australia and the South Pacific.