biography of Robert C. OSBORN (1904-1994)

Birth place: Oshkosh, WI

Addresses: NYC; Salisbury, CT

Profession: Painter, cartoonist

Studied: Yale Univ.; Brit. Acad., Rome; Acad. Scandinav., Paris, France; also with Friesz, Varoquier & Despiau; Md. Inst. Art (hon. DFA, 1963)

Exhibited: VMFA, 1952; Wadsworth Athenaeum, 1958; AFA, 1952-54; Berkshire Mus., 1967; cartoons: MoMA Traveling Exh., "If You Want to Build a House," "On Being a Cartoonist;" Wartime Posters, AIC, 1946; WMAA, 1960; BM, 1961; Edith Halpert, NYC, 1970s. Awards: Gov. medal, Wis.; Legion of Merit, U.S. Navy, 1945.

Member: Elizabethan Cl.; Scroll & Keys; Century Assn.

Work: MoMA; Addison Gal. Art, Andover, Mass.; Paine Art Mus., Oshkosh, Wis.; CGA; Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, CT. Commissions: mural, Quinta da Bacalhoa Azeitao, Port., 1938-39; mural, Am. Mus. Natural Hist., New York, 1955; mural, comn. by Stonoroff for Planning Comn. Phila., 1956; two murals, comn. by Ivan Chermayeff for Puerto Rico Planning Comn., 1970; three murals, comn by Ivan Chermayeff for Smithsonian Exhib. on Productivity, 1972.

Comments: Positions: presented first show of Edward Weston in the East, Hotchkiss Sch., 1931. Teaching: founder & hd. art dept., Hotchkiss Sch., Lakeville, Conn., 1929-35; chmn. Yale Coun., Sch. Art & Archit., Yale Univ., 1960-65, alumni exec. coun., 1970-. Collection: (with Elodie C. Osborn) Despiau, Miros, Klees, Calder, Marinni, MacIver, Hartley, Picasso, Dubuffet, Friedman, Shahn and others. Publications: auth. & illusr., War Is No Damn Good; Leisure; The Vulgarians; Dilbert; Low and Inside & An Osborn Festival of Phobias.

Sources: WW73; Leo Lionni, "Osborn," Print (Vol.5); Russell Lynes, "Osborn's Americans," Horizon (Sept., 1960); Fritz Eichenberg, "Osborn," American Graphic Artist (1965).