8

John N. Robinson

(1912-1994)

Sarge.

Oil on canvas board, 1938.
Initialed in oil, lower left. Signed, titled and dated in colored pencil, verso.
24 x 18 in. (61 x 45.7 cm.), Frame: 27 1/2 x 22 in. (69.9 x 55.9 cm.)

  • Provenance:
    The artist.
    Thence by descent, private collection, Maryland.
  • Exhibited:
    John N. Robinson: A Retrospective, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, June 18 - July 30, 1976.
  • Literature:
    John N. Robinson: A Retrospective, Smithsonian Institute Press, Washington, DC, 1976, p. 22.
  • Notes:
    An early painting by John N. Robinson, Sarge is a portrait of the artist's grandfather, Sargent Ignatius Barton. He served in the 9th United States Cavalry Regiment, which was one of the four "Buffalo Soldier" regiments in the Spanish-American War in 1898, and fought under Teddy Roosevelt at San Juan Hill. They were also among the first regiments to patrol a national park (Yosemite in 1899 and 1904), making them, in effect, the first park rangers.

    Native Washington, DC painter, John N. Robinson, should be considered a significant modern portrait artist alongside Archibald M. Motley. Robinson excelled at warm depictions of African American friends and family, in addition to a series of striking self-portraits. One of Robinson's best-known paintings is a stunning portrait of his grandparents in their Anacostia home in the collection of Howard University, Mr. and Mrs. Barton, 1941-42, which won a prize at the fourth annual Exhibition of Paintings at Atlanta University. But, despite a long career and museum exhibitions, Robinson's work went largely unheralded outside of Washington, DC during his lifetime.

    Born in "Holy Hill", a poor, segregated neighborhood of Georgetown, Robinson was raised by his grandparents at the age of eight following his mother's death. Having to work to support the family, he left high school at the age of fifteen without any formal art training. Robinson still took to drawing as a teenager, sketching on the back of timecards in the parking garage where he worked alongside his grandfather, the night watchman. Robinson had a break when a group of these sketches was brought to the attention of James V. Herring, the director of the fine art department at Howard University. In exchange for some office work, Robinson was granted a semester of instruction under the artist and art historian Professor James A. Porter. Unable to continue his formal instruction, Robinson nevertheless devoted his life to painting whenever he was not working. When he was seventeen, Robinson's grandparents moved to the Anacostia neighborhood of Garfield Park in Southeast Washington. His new next-door neighbor was Gladys Washington, whom he married in 1934 and had six children. After a brief time in the Civilian Conservation Corps, in 1935, Robinson began working at St. Elizabeth's Hospital, where he worked his way up from an assistant to a supervisory cook over a thirty-five-year career.

    Robinson is often associated with the Barnett-Aden Gallery in Washington, DC, opened by Herring and his partner, the curator Alonzo J. Aden, in 1943 in their townhouse's ground floor. Robinson was included in several group exhibitions there between 1945 and 1952. Robinson showed alongside other emerging great talents, such as Elizabeth Catlett, Eldzier Cortor, Loïs Mailou Jones, Alma Thomas, and Hale Woodruff. He painted many striking self-portraits – Self-Portrait of a Young Man, 1940, is still today in the celebrated Barnett-Aden Collection. Another significant painting in the collection is his First Gallery, 1947, a depiction of the Barnett-Aden gallery interior with Alonzo Aden seated at his desk.

    Robinson received more recognition for his painting late in his career. He had a solo exhibition at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in 1976 and a retrospective at the Anacostia Museum and Center for African American History and Culture in 1983. His paintings are found today in the permanent collections of the National Portrait Gallery, Anacostia Community Museum, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and the Howard University Gallery of Art.
  • Condition:
    Please contact the Specialist for the auction to request a condition report.

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April 2, 2026 12:00 PM EDT
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