User:Jpmillerusa2/Sandbox

John Robinson (6 May 1935 - 6 April 2007) was a British sculptor and co-founder of the Bradshaw Foundation, whose work ranged from the figurative to the abstract, and demonstrated immense emotional and intellectual depth as well as a remarkable breadth of perspective. His later abstract sculptures are remarkable fortheir beautifully crafted and elegant forms which symbolise human values, such as music, science, mortality and the circle of life. Accounts of his work may be seen at the Robinson estate website, the website of the Centre for the Popularisation of Mathematics and the June and July, 2007, issues of Hyperseeing. Among other distinctions, he was the Official Sculptor for the British Olympic Committee in 1988, and a University of Wales Honorary Fellow, 1992.

Figurative sculptures
Robinson first made a name for himself with representational pieces. His figurative bronzes ranged in scope and scale from exquisite life-size sculptures of children to monumental athletic sculptures, and included commissioned busts of Queen Elizabeth and the Queen Mother. His representational sports figure ‘Acrobats’ (1970, 5 metres) is mounted outside the Sports Academy in Canberra, and amazes viewers with an exquisite grace and balance that belies the technical complexity of this monumental piece. Another of his athletic sculptures, ‘Hammer Thrower,’ may be seen outside the Bowring Building in Tower Hill, London, and at the United States Sports Academy, Daphny, Alabama. Robinson was Official Sculptor for the British Olympic Committee in 1988. His ‘Gymnast’ is at the new Olympic Museum in Lausanne, donated by the Australian Olympic Committee.

Abstract symbolic sculptures and tapestries
In 1975, after listening to a Mozart violin concerto, an abstract form came into his mind, and he rushed to his studio to translate it into sculpture. This `Adagio’ was the first of his non-figurative sculptures. Robinson then embarked on a unique series of abstract sculptures with the aim of symbolizing human values and our concepts of the dynamic processes which shape our lives. In this ‘Universe Series’ of symbolic sculptures and tapestries, which comprises over 100 works, he combined a deep intuitive grasp of scientific and mathematical principles with an even deeper and unique artistic aesthetic. The rhythm of line and craftsmanship in Robinson’s symbolic sculptures convey their effect with economy and surprise. An example is `Joy of Living’ (1993), a curving band of stainless steel, which immediately conveys the rhythm of joyous dance. The symbolic `Elation’ (1983) conveys the punching of the fist in triumph, which Robinson felt was more effective than his representational sports figure `Acrobats’.

One of Robinson’s best-known symbolic sculptures is `Bonds of Friendship’ (1979), which he dedicated as symbolizing the notion that “trust is the basis of peace”. A 1.5m x 1m edition of ‘Bonds’, in polished bronze, was unveiled in 1979 in Sydney Cove by the Governor General of Australia, to commemorate the landing in 1774 of the First Fleet. An analogous sculpture, but patinated to represent the Old Country, was unveiled in Portsmouth by Queen Elizabeth. Robinson said that ‘Bonds’ “symbolises the friendship that exists between my patrons and myself, which has enriched my life beyond measure and made the Symbolic Sculptures possible.”

Selections of Robinson’s work have been exhibited at Leeds, Bangor, Liverpool, Wadham College Oxford, Churchill College Cambridge, London, Barcelona, Zaragoza, and at several sites in the U.S. Many of his sculptures can be viewed on web sites, including the Robinson estate website. A discussion of Robinson’s work within the context of mathematical principles can be seen at the website of the Centre for the Popularisation of Mathematics hosted by the University of Wales, Bangor.

Biography
Robinson was born in London on May 5, 1935. His parents were Australian with strong English connections. He was evacuated to Australia from 1940 to 1943, where attended Melbourne Grammar School. On returning to England, he attended Rugby School, where he received prizes for geometry and sculpture. He left school at the age of 16 and joined the Merchant Navy, but left the Navy upon arrival in Australia. There he engaged in a wide range of activities that enabled him to explore that continent. His adventures ranged from jackerooing and cattle droving to serving on a mounted patrol: he joined the last Mounted Police Patrol and trekked on horseback through 1100 kilometers of the King Leopold Ranges of the Kimberley region of Western Australia. In the 1950s, he married Margie Begg, bought a 1600 acre virgin scrub block in the Ninety Mile Desert of South Australia and for ten years, he and Margie developed a sheep farm. Their three sons were born on that farm.

In the late 1960s, he bought some modelling clay and started modelling friends and children, working in his shearing barn. His sculpting became so consuming that, in 1969 at the age of 35, he sold the farm for enough money to support himself and his family for two years to try his hand as a sculptor. Robinson returned to England with his wife and 3 sons to begin his sculpting career in earnest. Robinson first worked from a studio in Devon in the early 1970s, and later moved his family and studio to Somerset.

In 1983 Robinson opened the Freeland Gallery in Albemarle St., London, showing both figurative and representative sculptures. In 1992 he was made an Honorary Fellow of the University of Wales, in recognition of the value of his sculpture and his collaboration with the Department of Mathematics.

Rock Art Research and the Bradshaw Foundation
John Robinson’s adventures in life were always accompanied by his passion for the knowledge and truth about mankind's artistic development and creativity. After a lifetime of interest in art, archaeology and anthropology, Robinson co-founded the Bradshaw Foundation. This foundation was formed in 1992 following an expedition to the Kimberley region of north-western Australia to examine a distributed set of remarkable rock art called the Bradshaws. The sequence of events and the other remarkable individuals involved in the establishment and development of the Bradshaw Foundation is a fascinating story, which can be followed in Robinson’s published autobiography ‘From the Beginning Onwards’, accessible online at Robinson’s estate’s website. Robinson’s travels to study rock art took him from the Sahara Desert to Easter Island. He was one of the fortunate few to have been member of the Chauvet Cave scientific exploration team, lead by Jean Clottes. In 1998, Robinson visited the Chauvet cave with Dr. Clottes, Dr. David Lewis-Williams, and several other team members, to visit the spectacular images estimated to be older than 35,000 years, the oldest art yet discovered. Robinson also travelled from Petra in Jordan to the Olgas in Central Australia, visited art academies throughout China, and explored the temples of Egypt, Mexico, Malta, Samarkand and Bokara in Uzbekistan.

The Bradshaw Foundation's first publication 'Bradshaws - Rock Paintings of North-Western Australia' was edited by Robinson in 1993. He foresaw the importance of the emerging World Wide Web, and in 1997 the Bradshaw Foundation website was established to highlight rock art research from around the world. In 2004 the website further expanded as Robinson introduced the genetic research of Professor Stephen Oppenheimer of Oxford University, in order to give rock art an anthropological context. This resulted in the 'Journey of Mankind - Genetic Map'. It was at this point the Bradshaw Foundation received a web award from Scientific American for work in the field of Anthropology & Paleontology.

In March of 2007 Robinson was diagnosed with advanced lung cancer. He died on April 6 his home in Somerset, England after a short illness, fully in control, and, as he said, with no regrets. Two of his sculptures illustrate his attitude: `Mortality’ (1982), `From nothing to nothing, cut from an egg’, where the egg is the symbol of the cycle of life; and `Immortality’ (1982), `Passing on the torch of life’. The latter he surely has done.