Sir Robin Philipson PPRSA was born in Broughton-in-Furness in 1916 and was educated at Dumfries Academy and Edinburgh College of Art. He served with the Kings Own Scottish Borderers and the Royal Indian Army Service Corps in India and Burma during the Second World War. After the war, he returned to Edinburgh, joining the staff of the college of art in 1947.
As a teacher and eventually Head of the School of Drawing and Painting at Edinburgh College of Art, and as a valued member of numerous committees, he was above all a practising painter, who in spite of the many demands upon his time was immensely prolific and produced throughout his life a remarkable and original body of work. Philipson was elected an Associate of the Royal Scottish Academy in 1952, becoming a full Academician in 1962. He was elected Secretary in 1969 and became President in 1973, holding that office until his retiral in 1983. Philipson was knighted in 1976 and received several honorary awards from Scottish universities. He was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy in London in 1973 and became a Royal Academician in 1981.
Philipson’s contribution to Scottish painting was considerable. In his early years he was influenced by the Austrian Expressionist, Kokoschka, and this was to prove crucial to his development. He developed his distinctly personal style, focusing on themes of cockfights, rose windows, altars and cathedrals, crucifixions and war. In 1989 a major retrospective exhibition of Philipson's work was held in the Edinburgh College of Art for the Edinburgh International Festival.