William Robinson AO (born 1936 in Brisbane) is an award-winning Australian painter and lithographer.
Robinson studied art at the Central Technical College from 1955 to 1956. After graduating, he began working as an art instructor, eventually becoming head of the Painting Department at the Brisbane College of Advanced Education in 1982. In 1989 he retired to work full-time on his paintings.
Robinson held his first exhibition in 1967. He rose to international prominence as a part of the exihibitions Australian Perspectiva in 1983 and The Sixth Bienniale of Sydney in 1986.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art has several of his works in their collection, as does the National Gallery of Australia and several smaller Australian galleries.
He has won the Archibald Prize for portraiture twice: first in 1987 for Equestrian self portrait, then in 1995 for Self-portrait with stunned mullet. He has also won the Wynne Prize for landscape painting in 1990 (The rainforest) and 1996 (Creation landscape – earth and sea).
Robinson released a solo exhibition, Landscapes, which consisted of oil paintings which showed fragments of the Australian bush in various perspectives.
In 2011, The Queensland University of Technology Art Museum curated a major retrospective exhibition William Robinson: The Transfigured Landscape which was opened by the Australian Governor General Quentin Bryce.[1]
| Awards | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Davida Allen |
Archibald Prize 1987 for Equestrian Self Portrait |
Succeeded by Fred Cress |
| Preceded by Francis Giacco |
Archibald Prize 1995 for Self Portrait with Stunned Mullet |
Succeeded by Wendy Sharpe |