Bernie Haynes Robynson Explained

Bernie Haynes Robynson
Other Names:	Bernie Robynson, Bernie Hayes Robynson, Bernice Haynes Robynson
Birth Date:	1900
Birth Place:	Paris, Kentucky, U.S.
Death Place:	New York, U.S.
Education:	Knoxville College, YMCA School of Art, National Academy of Design, Art Students League of New York
Occupation:	Printmaker, illustrator, graphic artist, educator
Movement:	Harlem Renaissance

Bernie Haynes Robynson (19002001), was an American printmaker, illustrator, graphic artist, and educator. He is associated with graphic arts history within the Harlem Renaissance, a Black cultural movement of the 1920s in New York City.^[1]

Biography

Bernie Haynes Robynson was born in 1900 in Paris, Kentucky into an African American family.^[2] Some of his early records use the name Bernice Haynes Robynson. He attended classes at Knoxville College, the YMCA School of Art, the National Academy of Design, and the Art Students League of New York.^[3] Robynson had studied under Augusta Savage; British painter and sculptor, Charles Louis Hinton; and cartoonist, Mort Burger.^[4]

Robynson did commercial artwork for the Madam C. J. Walker Manufacturing Company, and the Fuller Poster Company.^[5] His illustrations were published in The New York Age, The Crisis, and Amsterdam News.^{[6] [7]}

Photographer and painter, James C. Thibodeaux had been one of Robynson's students.^[8]

Death and legacy

He died on December 20, 2001.^[9] The Oregon Historical Society Research Library has a collection of his posters.^[10] The Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University also contains his work in the collection.^[11] The W. E. B. Du Bois Papers at the Special Collections and University Archives, University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries contain the 1929 mailing address for Robynson, who was working as an illustrator for The Crisis at the time.^[12]

Exhibitions

• 1933, "Exhibition of the Work of Negro Artists", Harmon Foundation, Art Centre, New York City, New York

Notes and References

1. Book: Hills, Patricia . Painting Harlem Modern: The Art of Jacob Lawrence . 2019-01-05 . University of California Press . 978-0-520-30550-2 . 172 . en.
2. Web site: Robynson, Bernie Haynes. (b. Paris, KY, 1900; active New York, NY, 1954) . https://wayback.archive-it.org/4472/20210305015957/http://216.197.120.164/artistbibliog.cfm?id=1551 . March 5, 2021 . African American Visual Artist Database (AAVAD).
3. Book: Kirschke, Amy Helene . Art in Crisis: W. E. B. Du Bois and the Struggle for African American Identity and Memory . 2007-01-23 . Indiana University Press . 978-0-253-21813-1 . 42 . en.
4. Book: Cederholm, Theresa Dickason . Afro-American Artists: A Bio-Bibliographical Directory . 1973 . Trustees of the Boston Public Library . . 978-0-89073-007-2 . Boston, MA . 242 . Internet Archive.
5. News: March 28, 1931 . Bernie Robynson: Negro Artist's Drawings Used in Consolidated Gas Co.s Advertisements . 6 . . subscription . Newspapers.com.
6. Book: Kirschke . Amy Helene . Protest and Propaganda: W. E. B. Du Bois, the CRISIS, and American History . Sinitiere . Phillip Luke . 2019-01-01 . University of Missouri Press . 978-0-8262-7432-8 . 94 . en.
7. Book: Goeser, Caroline . Picturing the New Negro: Harlem Renaissance Print Culture and Modern Black Identity . 2007 . University Press of Kansas . 978-0-7006-1466-0 . 72 . en.
8. Web site: Duncan . Robert J. . February 21, 2013 . Thibodeaux, James C. (1911–2004) . Texas State Historical Association (TSHA).
9. Web site: United States Social Security Death Index; Bernie H Robynson, 20 Dec 2001; citing U.S. Social Security Administration, Death Master File, database . registration . FamilySearch.org.
10. Web site: Bernie Robynson posters . 2023-12-25 . Archives West.
11. Book: Harmon, Katharine . You Are Here: NYC: Mapping the Soul of the City . 2016-11-01 . Chronicle Books . 978-1-61689-549-5 . 115–116 . en.
12. Web site: February 1929 . The office's notation of the New York City address of this "Crisis" illustrator; W. E. B. Du Bois Papers, 1803-1999 (bulk 1877–1963) . 2023-12-25 . Digital Commonwealth . en.