Born in London in 1882, Robins was interested in drawing from a young age, encouraged by his father, an art teacher. Brought up in the country, Robins' father had an extensive knowledge of native flora and fauna, which he passed on to his son. The two spent holidays sketching in Kent and Surrey, areas where Robins later chose to work, and to depict his landscapes.
After leaving school, Robins worked in a shipping agent's office (spending extended lunch hours sketching the ships) and in an architects office. Deciding that architecture was not form him, Robins entered St Martin's School of Art, London in 1901. Without any formal training, he was accepted as a pupil-teacher, and remained on the staff for the next twenty years.
Robins did not begin printmaking until 1909 when he took up study at the Goldsmiths' College in New Cross under William Lee-Hankey (1869-1952). Due to Lee-Hankey's influence, Robins was first interested more in aquatint than etching. One of his earliest aquatints Old Jamaica Wharf (1909) is held in the Baillieu Collection. By 1912 aquatints by Robins were being published by Colnaghi's, one of the most important publication houses in London.
Deciding to change emphasis from aquatint to etching, Robbins attended weekly etching classes held at the Royal College of Art, under Sir Frank Short (1857-1945). Head of the RCA from 1891 to 1924, Short was recognised as an authority on the engraving process, and "was largely responsible for the technical excellence of British etching during the inter war period" (Garton, 66). While studying under Short, Robins first began to work with drypoint, the quickest and most convenient of intaglio processes, and well suited to his outdoors work.
Robins began exhibiting at the New English Art Club in the early 1910s where his works, and particularly his etchings, were received favourably. Robins first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1912, and was elected an associate of the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers in 1913. He became a fellow of the Society 1917, and later served on the council of the Society. Robins also became an honorary member of the Australian Society of Etchers. The war during which he served with the Artists' Rifles, did not prevent Robins from producing plates; all bar one plate are drypoints.
After the war Robins returned to his teaching position until 1921 when he transferred to London Central School of Arts and Crafts, where he was in charge of the etching and engraving class. In this position he had influence on a large number of upcoming printers, including students from countries such as America which lacked comprehensive printmaking courses. In 1922 Robins' book Etching Craft, A Guide for Students and Collectors was published, the first instructive publication on the technique since Short's work On the Making of Etchings of 1888.
Throughout his teaching career Robins continued with his own art, producing a number of woodcuts, lithographs and aquatints but continuing to focus mostly and most successfully, on etchings and drypoints. During the 1920s two articles were published on Robins' work. The first "Etchings and Drypoints of W.P. Robins" was written in 1922 by Malcolm Salaman, a New York print dealer with many contacts with the British print scene; the second in 1925 by Campbell Dodgson, Keeper of Prints at the British Museum. Both articles were very enthusiastic, stating that Robins was one of the most important English etchers of the period. Since that time nothing has been published regarding his work, and entries in dictionaries of British etchers include only limited information. It can be assumed that Robins continued to exhibit with the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers and the New England Art Club; he did exhibit in various international exhibitions, including in Adelaide. The works held in the Baillieu Library Print Collection show that, while continuing to use the English landscape as his main thematic influence, Robins did travel to various European locations which he used as subject matter for plates. Robins continued to produce prints until his death in 1959.
Extract from: Alisa Bunbury, The art of William Palmer Robins: selected from the Print Collection of the Baillieu Library, Parkville, Vic, University of Melbourne Library, 1995.
Select Bibliography
Dodgson, Campbell, "The English Landscapes of W.P. Robins", Bookman's Journal, XII 1925, pp.93-96
Dunbar, Diane, 200 years of British Etching, Adelaide 1985
Garton, Robin (ed.), British Printmakers 1855-1955, Devizes, 1992.
Guichard, Kenneth, British Etchers 1850-1940, London, 1981
Lang, Gladys Engel and Lang, Kurt, Etched in Memory: The Building and Survival of Artistic Reputation, Chapel Hill, 1990
Nash, Ray, "Rembrandt's Influence on Seymour Haden, Whistler and the Revival of Original Etching", Printing and Graphic Arts, II, no.4, 1954
Robins, William Palmer, with introduction by Martin Hardie, Etching Craft: A Guide for Collectors and Students, London, 1924
Salman, Malcolm, "Etchings and Drypoints of W.P. Robins", Bookman's Journal, V 1922, pp.112-119
Stone-Ferrier, Linda, "Rembrandt's landscape etchings: Defying modernity's encroachment", Art History, 15 no. 4, December 1992, pp.403-425.
