MARKEY ROBINSON (1918 - 1999)

Title: Celtic Warrior Medium: Gouache Signature: Signed Lower Left Provenance: Private Collection Framed Lot Description: A bold gouache painting by Markey Robinson, titled Celtic Warrior. The composition features a stylised male and female figure beside classical columns, rendered in Robinson’s signature naïve-modernist style with thick black outlines and flattened forms. The male figure holds a round shield, while the female figure stands in profile, adorned in a blue robe, lending the work a mythic, timeless quality. Executed in gouache on paper and signed lower left. Presented in a wooden frame with reddish gilt accents. Image size: 52 x 32 cm.; framed: 66 x 50 cm. PICTURES AND PRINTS Tuesday 16th September 2025 18:00:50 Biography MARKEY ROBINSON (1918 - 1999) Markey Robinson, born in Belfast, was a painter of landscapes and figures as well as a sculptor. He received his early education at Perth Street Elementary School and later studied at Belfast College of Art, developing much of his artistic skill under the guidance of his grandfather, Thomas Robinson, a painter and decorator. Robinson’s work was first included in the Ulster Academy of Arts exhibition in 1942, with further representation at the Ulster Academy and the Irish Exhibition of Living Art in 1944. His paintings were subsequently shown in venues such as the Mansard Gallery in London, the CEMA Gallery and Gray’s Gallery in Belfast, and at the Contemporary Ulster Paintings exhibition in Edinburgh. After a working trip to Spain in 1969, Robinson returned to find his Belfast studio destroyed by fire. He spent another year in Spain before settling in Dublin, where the Irish Independent described him wandering the city dressed like a tramp, scavenging boards and paper from skips and rubbish tips on which to paint, while living above the Oriel Gallery. Robinson continued to exhibit widely, including at the Bell Gallery and Oriel Gallery in Dublin, Eleves Gallery in Paris, and Redfern Gallery in London. During the 1980s, his solo exhibitions extended internationally to venues such as the Farins Gallery in Washington D.C., Peel Gallery in Montreal, Galerie Weber in Geneva, George Gallery in Dublin, and Emer Gallery in Belfast.