Eduard Robyn
- BORN
-
December 7, 1820
Emmerich, Westphalia, Germany
- DIED
-
February 1863
Hermann, Missouri
Eduard Robyn was a lithographer in St. Louis, Missouri, who was known for his city views of towns in Missouri in the nineteenth century.
Robyn arrived in St. Louis with his brother Charles around 1845, but by 1847, Eduard and his brother moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where they worked at the lithographic firm Dreser & Robyn with William Dreser. In 1850, with their newly acquired knowledge of lithography, the brothers returned to St. Louis and opened their own lithographic printing firm called E. & C. Robyn. Their business produced prints that included portraits, landscapes, music, showbills, etc. Theodore Schrader purchased the business in 1857; it operated until 1894. During that time, Eduard submitted drawings to be printed.
In 1853, Eduard published a large view of St. Louis with his brother. It was a depiction of the city from the Illinois side of the Mississippi River. Around this time Robyn collaborated with Ferdinand Welcker, a St. Louis artist, on a panorama titled An Artist’s Travels in the Eastern Hemisphere. This painting was in tempera on two rolls of canvas, three hundred and fifty feet long and eight feet high, and decorated with scenery and images of people. It was unrolled in front of an audience with narration, offering viewers an immersive experience.
Around 1860, Eduard made folio-sized lithographs of the Missouri towns of Hermann, Washington, Jefferson City and Carondelet. In the center of these lithographs was a view of the town, with smaller vignettes of buildings and churches surrounding it.
In 1856 Robyn purchased a farm in Hermann, Missouri, known as “Dry Hill.” Robyn moved to the farm in 1858 after he was diagnosed with tuberculosis, and lived there until his death in 1863.
Note
The panorama, An Artist’s Travels in the Eastern Hemisphere was donated to the Missouri Historical Society by Robyn’s descendents in 1940.
Eduard Robyn, St. Louis, Mo. 1853, 1853.
Lithograph with applied watercolor, 14 1/8 x 26 1/8 in.
Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas, Gift of Ruth Carter Stevenson, 1977.6.
Eduard Robyn, Hermann, Missouri, circa 1860.
Toned lithograph with applied watercolor, 19 13/16 x 25 15/16 in.
Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas, 1978.42.
Awards & Exhibitions 0
References
Artist clippings file is available at:
Bibliography
Select Sources
Jay T. Last, The Color Explosion: Nineteenth-Century American Lithography (Santa Ana: Hillcrest Press, 2005), 223, 273.
John W. Reps, Saint Louis Illustrated: Nineteenth-Century Engravings and Lithographs of a Mississippi River Metropolis (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1989), 68-71.
John W. Reps, Views and Viewmakers of Urban America: Lithographs of Towns and Cities in the United States and Canada, Notes on the Artists and Publishers, and a Union Catalog of Their Work, 1825-1925 (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1984), 200-201, 370, 271, 374, 376.
Charles van Ravensway, The Arts and Architecture of German Settlements in Missouri: A Survey of a Vanishing Culture (Columbia and London: University of Missouri Press, 1977), 491-492.
“Descendents of the late Edward Robyn…,” Gasconade County Republican, March 29, 1940, 3.
“Aged Resident Passes Away: Mrs. Juliana Robyn, Aged 91 Years, Died Monday at her Home on Dry Hill,” _The Advertiser-Courier _(Hermann, Missouri), April 3, 1918, 2.
“Eduard Robyn,” Westliche Post (St. Louis, Missouri), February 27, 1863, 2.
Core Reference Sources
Anita Jacobsen, Jacobsen's Biographical Index of American Artists (Carrollton: A.J. Publications, 2002).
Peter H. Falk, et. al, Who was Who in American Art, 1564-1975: 400 Years of Artists in America (Madison: Sound View Press, 1999).
askART (database), askART, https://www.askart.com/.
Image Credits
Artwork
Eduard Robyn, St. Louis, Mo. 1853, 1853.
Lithograph with applied watercolor, 14 1/8 x 26 1/8 in.
Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas, Gift of Ruth Carter Stevenson, 1977.6.
Eduard Robyn, Hermann, Missouri, circa 1860.
Toned lithograph with applied watercolor, 19 13/16 x 25 15/16 in.
Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas, 1978.42.
Contributors
Roberta Wagener, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
Artist Record Published
Published on March 30, 2023
Learn more
References
Artist clippings file is available at:
Artist’s work in these institutions’ collections
Amon Carter Museum of American Art
Bibliography
Select Sources
Jay T. Last, The Color Explosion: Nineteenth-Century American Lithography (Santa Ana: Hillcrest Press, 2005), 223, 273.
John W. Reps, Saint Louis Illustrated: Nineteenth-Century Engravings and Lithographs of a Mississippi River Metropolis (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1989), 68-71.
John W. Reps, Views and Viewmakers of Urban America: Lithographs of Towns and Cities in the United States and Canada, Notes on the Artists and Publishers, and a Union Catalog of Their Work, 1825-1925 (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1984), 200-201, 370, 271, 374, 376.
Charles van Ravensway, The Arts and Architecture of German Settlements in Missouri: A Survey of a Vanishing Culture (Columbia and London: University of Missouri Press, 1977), 491-492.
“Descendents of the late Edward Robyn…,” Gasconade County Republican, March 29, 1940, 3.
“Aged Resident Passes Away: Mrs. Juliana Robyn, Aged 91 Years, Died Monday at her Home on Dry Hill,” _The Advertiser-Courier _(Hermann, Missouri), April 3, 1918, 2.
“Eduard Robyn,” Westliche Post (St. Louis, Missouri), February 27, 1863, 2.
Core Reference Sources
Anita Jacobsen, Jacobsen's Biographical Index of American Artists (Carrollton: A.J. Publications, 2002).
Peter H. Falk, et. al, Who was Who in American Art, 1564-1975: 400 Years of Artists in America (Madison: Sound View Press, 1999).
askART (database), askART, https://www.askart.com/.
Contributors
Roberta Wagener, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
Artist Record Published
Published on March 30, 2023
Updated on None
