Archives Directory for the History of Collecting in America

Robinson, Gladys Lloyd, 1895-1971 print view role Collector Dealer/Gallery Patron dates 1895-1971 city Culver City state CA other cities Yonkers, NY; Los Angeles, CA; sex F historical notes Actress, artist, and editor of the Hollywood magazine Script Gladys Lloyd Cassell Robinson (stage name Gladys Lloyd) was an art collector, dealer, and patron. Together with her husband and fellow actor, Edward G. Robison, she formed a collection of work by French pre-impressionists, impressionists, post-impressionists, and modernists. The couple’s art collection was exhibited at the Los Angeles County from September through November 1956 and at the San Francisco Legion of Honor Museum from December 1956 through January 1957. The Robinsons divorced in 1956, and in 1957, with the proviso that they would be able to buy back some of the paintings from their collection, it sold to Stavros Niarchos, a Greek shipping tycoon, for $3.5 million. After her divorce, Gladys would form two more art collections. The first, a diverse collection, was formed in the wake of her divorce (1957–1960) and included works of art from the Tang Dynasty, old masters, impressionists, post-impressionists, and young up-and-coming artists. The collection included work by Dosso Dossi, Giovanni Batista Tiepolo, Bernardo Strozzi, Henri Matisse, Modigliani, Edouard Vuillard, George Grosz, and Roger Bezombes, among others. New York’s Hammer Galleries exhibited Robinson’s collection in October 1959 and sold at auction in 1960. Robinson’s final collection included 95 paintings by approximately 50 contemporary artists, some of whom benefitted from her patronage, where she acted as an agent publicizing their work and garnering them exhibitions at various art galleries. Robinson’s art proteges included Marcel Dudouet, Giuseppe Bambino, Jose Juan Capuletti, and Gabriel Dauchot. Robinson’s own work was exhibited at, among other venues, the Bignou Gallery (1948), Dalzell Hatfield Galleries, Los Angeles (1949), and the Rotunda Gallery in San Francisco (1949), and Wildenstein & Co New York and London galleries (1951 and 1954). Robinson was married once to Edward G. Robinson (1893–1973) in 1927 and had one child, Edward G. Robinson, Jr (1933—1974). She was born in Yonkers New York to the professional stone carver Clement C. Cassell (1869–1939) and Eugenia "Virginia" M. (Lloyd) Cassell (1870–1941). Robinson had three siblings: Charles M. Cassell, Lloyd Cassell, and Hortense Cassell Jenson. decades of activity 1920-1930 1930-1940 1940-1950 1950-1960 1960-1970 updated 10/31/2024 13:33:25 bibliographic search Search Frick Art Reference Library Catalog Search Photoarchive Search Worldcat Search Library of Congress Name Authority File (LCNAF) Search Virtual International Authority File (VIAF) Search Wikidata Entry Archives/Repository Collection Title Collection Details The Frick Collection and Frick Art Research Library 10 East 71st Street Gladys Lloyd Robinson artist file : study photographs and reproductions of works of art with accompanying documentation 1920-2000. see details... see also: Robinson, Edward G., 1893-1973 «  back