15 Facts About Dolly Robinson

Dolly Robinson was born Dorothy Travers Smith in Dublin on 26 October 1901.

Dolly Robinson was the daughter of Richard Travers Smith MD, FRCPI and Hester.

Dolly Robinson moved into theatre design, and in 1926 designed the set of the Abbey Theatre's staging of The Emperor Jones by Eugene O'Neill.

Dolly Robinson worked on Yeats' Fighting the Waves, for which Ninette de Valois was the choreographer, and on Fedelma, as well as on G B Shaw's John Bull's Other Island, and on future husband Lennox Robinson's Ever the Twain.

Dolly Robinson showed one work in the Royal Hibernian Academy in 1936 and had a solo show in 1938.

Dolly Robinson established her studio, nicknamed "the grimery", on North Frederick Street, Dublin.

Harry Clarke's studio was on the same street, and Dolly Robinson became friends with Thomas MacGreevy and the Yeats family.

Dolly Robinson believed that she had inherited some psychic ability, and practised automatic writing.

Dolly Robinson designed the costumes for two Abbey productions by Yeats in 1934: The resurrection and The king of the clock tower.

Dolly Robinson exhibited 49 works, including numerous Irish landscapes, at 7 St Stephen's Green in 1938.

Dolly Robinson was a member of the Dublin United Arts Club, organising exhibitions.

Dolly Robinson was the curator for the Joyce Museum, Sandycove for a short period in the 1960s.

Dolly Robinson married Lennox Robinson on 8 September 1931 in the Chelsea registry office, with the couple honeymooning in America as the Abbey toured there.

Dolly Robinson died on 4 November 1977 in a Dublin nursing home.

Dolly Robinson was buried at St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin with her husband.