Robert Maxwell was born in New York City in 1929 and lived in Mount Vernon, NY, until the age of 20. He studied at the Art Students League of New York (1947-1950), The National Academy of Art and Design (1951) and The Franklin School of Art, (1947-1950) also in New York City. It was at the Franklin School of Art that he first encountered the artist Sterling Dickinson (1909-1998) who had already established permanent residence in San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato and was a founding member and professor at the Instituto Allende. It was Dickinson who encouraged Maxwell to visit San Miguel de Allende and attend courses at the recently inaugurated art school in central Mexico.

In 1950, Maxwell traveled abroad for the first time to study in San Miguel de Allende and worked under the tutelage of painter and muralist, James Pinto (1907-1987). During that same period, Maxwell had established a studio in New York City returning to Mexico to study.

In 1951, while attending art courses at the National Academy of Art and Design in New York City, under the tutelage of painter Robert Philipp, Maxwell was awarded the Hallgarten Scholarship, this allowed him to travel to San Miguel once again for an extended period. In 1952, he would also receive a scholarship from the Stacey Foundation in California. From 1955-56, Maxwell would become a member of the faculty at the Instituto Allende serving as drawing and landscape painting instructor.

In 1953, while living in San Miguel de Allende Maxwell was diagnosed with polio. He was hospitalized and treated in Mexico City. It was during his convalescence In Mexico City that would meet his future wife and life partner, Lucha Maxwell (María de la Luz Martínez Zepeda). They would eventually establish residence in San Miguel de Allende and have two children: Roberto Luis and Anne Marie.

Bob and Lucha Maxwell founded “Casa Maxwell,” a gallery of Mexican folk art that eventually gained renown in the town and where Maxwell’s work was on permanent display to the public.

Robert Maxwell passed away the 13 of March 2019 in San Miguel de Allende at the age of 89.

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS:

Bottega Gallery in Minneapolis, Minn. in 1964
The San Miguel Gallery, San Miguel Allende, Gto., Mexico in 1965 and 1974
Instituto Allende, San Miguel Allende, Gto., Mexico 1966
New Values Gallery at the Mexican-North American Institute of Cultural Relations Mexico City, 1967
La Sirena Gallery, San Antonio, Texas,1967

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

New Rochelle Art Association 1949
American Watercolor Society in N.Y, in 1948, 1949
Westchester Arts and Crafts Guild, NY 1948-49
Mount Vernon Art Association, NY 1947-50 Honorable mention Award
The American Drawing Annual XIV at the Norfolk Museum in Va. 1956-1957
The National Academy of Art and Design, New York, NY 1957
American Art at Mid-Century in NJ. 1961
Pictorial Festival in Acapulco, Gro, Mexico 1964
The Robbins Gallery, NJ 1965
The Shook-Carrington Gallery in San Antonio, Texas 1966
Annual Exhibition of Painters of San Miguel Allende at the Mexican-North American Institute of Cultural Relations in Mexico City 1967
Mizrachi Gallery, México City 1967
Alta Vista Gallery, México City 1967
La Pérgola, Gallery Instituto Allende 1990, San Miguel Allende, Gto. Mexico
Galería Lepe, Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico
Octagon Art Center in Ames, Iowa (1974
McNider Museum in Mason City, Iowa (1975)
Linha-Hoeven Gallery, Minot, North Dakota (1975)
Delta State University, Cleveland, Mississippi (1975)
Civic Fine Arts Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota (1975)
Dubuque Museum of Art, Dubuque, Iowa (1975)
Palm Springs Art Museum, Palm Springs, California
Western Colorado Center for the Arts in Colorado (1976)
The Chamizal National Memorial in El Paso, Texas (1976)
The National Institute of Fine Arts (INBA) (La Plástica de San Miguel Allende ’80 (1980)
The Tierra Adentro Gallery in Mexico City
The San Miguel Gallery, San Miguel de Allende, Gto. Mexico
Guadalupe Posada Cultural Center (1988)

His work is represented in numerous private collections in the U.S.A., Canada, Mexico, and other countries, as well as in the Vincent Price Collection at the Banjaluka Modern Gallery in Yugoslavia.
His work is also included in the book “Who’s Who in American Art” (1976, 1978) and in the book “Image of Mexico, II,” published by the University of Texas at Austin.