Carole Robb (1943) is a British artist and member of the
National Academy of Design
The National Academy of Design is an honorary association of American artists, founded in New York City in 1825 by Samuel Morse, Asher Durand, Thomas Cole, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, and others "to promote the f ...
, New York. She lives between New York City, Rome, Venice, and London.
Early life and education
Robb was born in
Port Glasgow
Port Glasgow ( gd, Port Ghlaschu, ) is the second-largest town in the Inverclyde council area of Scotland. The population according to the 1991 census for Port Glasgow was 19,426 persons and in the 2001 census was 16,617 persons. The most rece ...
, Scotland in 1943 and studied painting at
the Glasgow School of Art (1961–65). She has said that the “Glasgow School of Art shaped my studio discipline; no effort without error, but it was the harsh Scottish weather that shaped the internal life of my imagination.”
[ She also studied at the ]University of Reading
The University of Reading is a public university in Reading, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1892 as University College, Reading, a University of Oxford extension college. The institution received the power to grant its own degrees in 192 ...
under Terry Frost
Sir Terence Ernest Manitou Frost RA (13 October 1915 – 1 September 2003) was a British abstract artist, who worked in Newlyn, Cornwall. Frost was renowned for his use of the Cornish light, colour and shape to start a new art movement in ...
, where she earned her MFA in 1979. That year she was awarded a British Arts Council
The Arts Council of Great Britain was a non-departmental public body dedicated to the promotion of the fine arts in Great Britain. It was divided in 1994 to form the Arts Council of England (now Arts Council England), the Scottish Arts Council ( ...
award in painting from Greater London Arts Association
The regional arts boards (formerly regional arts associations) were English regional subdivisions of the Arts Council of Great Britain
History
As the Arts Council began to move away from organising art activities in the 1950s, regional offices ...
and won the British Rome Prize
The Rome Prize is awarded by the American Academy in Rome, in Rome, Italy. Approximately thirty scholars and artists are selected each year to receive a study fellowship at the academy. Prizes have been awarded annually since 1921, with a hiatus ...
in painting from the Royal Commission, London and spent 1979 to 1980 in Rome. Following this she went to New York City on a Fulbright artist fellowship from 1980 to 1981.
Art practice
Robb is a figurative painter, building on the hours of life drawing required at the Glasgow School of Art.
Robb's work engages with mythology, which she first encountered in school, where she studied Greek and Latin.[ Film is also influential. The compositions in her series ''Showers with Heroes'' (2018) extend from her memories of films like ]Federico Fellini
Federico Fellini (; 20 January 1920 – 31 October 1993) was an Italian film director and screenwriter known for his distinctive style, which blends fantasy and baroque images with earthiness. He is recognized as one of the greatest and most ...
’s ''La Dolce Vita
''La Dolce Vita'' (; Italian for "the sweet life" or "the good life"Kezich, 203) is a 1960 satirical comedy-drama film directed and co-written (with Ennio Flaiano, Tullio Pinelli and Brunello Rondi) by Federico Fellini. The film stars Mar ...
'' (1960) and Clint Eastwood
Clinton Eastwood Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American actor and film director. After achieving success in the Western TV series '' Rawhide'', he rose to international fame with his role as the " Man with No Name" in Sergio Leone's "'' D ...
's performance in ''The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
''The Good, the Bad and the Ugly'' ( it, Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo, literally "The good, the ugly, the bad") is a 1966 Italian epic spaghetti Western film directed by Sergio Leone and starring Clint Eastwood as "the Good", Lee Van Cl ...
'' (1966).
Robb has exhibited with the Forum Gallery, New York (1982–1996); the Robert Steele Gallery, New York (2006–2008); the Denise Bibro Gallery, New York (2016–2018), and with Tibaldi Arte Contemporanea, Rome (2020).
Institutional exhibitions include Arnolfini Gallery
Arnolfini is an international arts centre and gallery in Bristol, England. It has a programme of contemporary art exhibitions, artist's performance, music and dance events, poetry and book readings, talks, lectures and cinema. There is also a ...
, Bristol, UK (1979); National Theatre Gallery London; and the South London Gallery
The South London Gallery, founded 1891, is a public-funded gallery of contemporary art in Camberwell, London. Until 1992, it was known as the South London Art Gallery, and nowadays the acronym SLG is often used. Margot Heller became its direc ...
(1983).
Robb was elected a member of the National Academy of Design, New York in 2010.
Awards and honors
Robb received a British Arts Council award in painting (GLAA) in 1979 and a Fulbright Fellowship from the UK to the USA (1980–81). She was awarded numerous artist residencies in the US from 1980 to 1987, including at the MacDowell Colony in New Hampshire (1981).
Collections
Robb's paintings are included in a number of private and public collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 100 ...
, New York; the National Academy
A national academy is an organizational body, usually operating with state financial support and approval, that co-ordinates scholarly research activities and standards for academic disciplines, most frequently in the sciences but also the hum ...
Museum of Art, New York, NY; the Victoria & Albert Museum
The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...
, London; the Imperial War Museum
Imperial War Museums (IWM) is a British national museum organisation with branches at five locations in England, three of which are in London. Founded as the Imperial War Museum in 1917, the museum was intended to record the civil and military ...
, London; and the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851
The Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 is an institution founded in 1850 to administer the international exhibition of 1851, officially called the Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations. The Great Exhibition was held ...
, London.
Teaching
Robb was visiting artist at various institutions and most recently at the New York Studio School
The New York Studio School of Drawing, Painting and Sculpture at 8 West 8th Street, in Greenwich Village, Manhattan, New York City, New York State is an art school formed in 1963 by a group of students and their teacher, Mercedes Matter, all of ...
from 1988 to 2004. She was Head of Atelier (Painting) there from 2005 to 2013.
Robb is currently (2022) the Artistic Director of the Rome Art Program in Italy, which she established in 2009.
References
Selected bibliography
Russell, John. "Carole Robb," ''The New York Times'' (April 30, 1982).
Review of first New York solo exhibition.
* Staff Writer. "Carole Robb At Forum: Scotland Salutes New York?" ''Art Line New York'' (1983). Article about Robb representing Scotland in New York exhibition.
* Lichtenstein, Olivia. "Profile: Apollo, Daphne and Carole Robb in the USA," ''Fulbright Magazine'' (1986). Discussion of Robb's Fulbright year in the US, with time spent in Appalachia, West Virginia.
* de Francia, Peter. "Carole Robb Pitture recenti," ''Archimedi'' (August, 1996). Discussion of first exhibition in Rome.
Eszenyi, Edina. "Carole Robb: Re-Imagining the Antique," ''The Florentine'' (October 22, 2015).
Discussion of first exhibition in Florence.
External links
*
romeartprogram.org
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Robb, Carole
Alumni of the Glasgow School of Art
Alumni of the University of Reading
Living people
National Academy of Design members
1943 births
People from Port Glasgow
20th-century Scottish painters
21st-century Scottish painters
20th-century Scottish women artists
21st-century Scottish women artists