Louisa Winslow Robins (1898 - 1962)

Buffalo Harbor in Wartime, 1943, oil on canvas, signed lower right, 36 x 46 inches, newspaper in foreground bears the headline: "Buffalo Evening News 1000 Bombers Leave Berlin a Sea of Flames, Explosions," inscribed verso "Louisa W. Robins, Buffalo, N.Y.", exhibited: 1) Patteran Society January Show, Albright Art Gallery (now Buffalo AKG Art Museum), Buffalo, NY, December 29, 1943 - January 31, 1944 (see Rohr, Nora Lee, Oil Based on Biblical Text Wins Patteran January Show, The Buffalo News, December 31, 1943), and 2) Carl Bredemeier Gallery, Buffalo NY, unknown date in 1940s (label verso)

$28,000

On November 23, 1943, the headline of The Buffalo News announced "1000 Bombers Leave Berlin a Sea of Flames, Explosions." Louisa Winslow Robins incorporated this newspaper in the foreground of Buffalo Harbor in Wartime, a painting which captures the home front at a pivotal time during World War II as the allies ramped up their bombing campaign in Europe. Writing of the 1944 Patteran Society Show at the Albright Art Gallery (now the Buffalo AKG Art Museum), The Buffalo News art critic Nora Lee Rohr, praised this work by noting, "Apart from the special mentions there are a number of notable items. Two of the largest canvases were done by Louisa W. Robins . . . 'Buffalo Harbor in Wartime' is unique. Large and direct in it approach it was painted with special permission at the request of Lieut. Commander A. E. Eisele, USN who supervised work on the 'Sable,' aircraft carrier converted from the Great Lakes passenger steamer Greater Buffalo." Robin's "direct approach" bears comparison to that of Glenn Coleman from more than a decade earlier.

Louisa Winslow Robbins was an American painter and printmaker based in Buffalo, New York, whose work bridged the aesthetics of American Scene painting and modernist experimentation. She studied with George Luks and at the Albright-Knox Gallery School of Art and later at the Silvermine Guild. In Buffalo, Robbins became active in the city’s thriving artistic community. She exhibited regularly with the Buffalo Society of Artists, where she earned recognition for her distinctive style—characterized by simplified forms, subtle tonal contrasts, and a contemplative mood. She had several solo and group exhibitions at the Albright Art Gallery (now the Buffalo AKG Art Museum) and was a founding member of the Patteran Society, a progressive group of Buffalo artists promoting modern art. Her work was selected for inclusion in the Museum of Modern Art's early exhibition Painting and Sculpture from 16 American Cities. Robins was a regular exhibitor with the Carl Bredemeier Gallery in Buffalo and the Marie Sterner Gallery in New York City. She completed murals at the Buffalo Children's Hospital. In additional to exhibitions in the Buffalo area, Robins exhibited at the Art Institute of Chicago, the Carnegie Institute, the Cincinnati Art Museum, the Riverside Museum, the National Academy of Design, and the Walker Art Center, among many other institutions. Beginning in the late 1940s, she was represented by New York's venerable Ferargil Galleries, which honored her with several solo shows. Her work is in the permanent collections of the Buffalo AKG Art Museum, Everson Museum of Art, and the Wadsworth Atheneum, among others. Robins is listed in Who Was Who in American Art and other standard references.