Robin Philipson (Hardback)

In the third quarter of the twentieth century Sir Robin Philipson (1916-92) ranked as one of the best known and prolific artists of what became known as the Edinburgh School. He spent his working life as an art school teacher, heading the Drawing and Painting School at Edinburgh College of Art for over twenty years, and he served as Secretary, then as President, of the Royal Scottish Academy. This new study discusses his double commitment to traditional teaching practice and to the wider encouragement of art across society. Robin Philipson was always fascinated by colour, material and process, and this new study, while exploring a long, active career in painting and printmaking, also sheds light on his involvement with a Borders textile company and the international Dovecot Studios. Philipson was highly ambitious for his own art. He engaged with the drama of human experience in his painting, and worked on specific themes such as cockfights and war imagery with a keen, raw expressionism. Two particular series, Threnody and Humankind, were key to his paintings of the 1970s. Later, his painting achieved a remarkable lyricism in a series of large, bold paintings of poppies which today have almost become his trademark.