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-78- Telescope "Comment Ca va?" By Robert Hopkin Dossin Museum A Brief Biography o f Robert Hopkin By Arthur Hopkin Gibson Robert Hopkin, best known as a marine and landscape painter, was born in Glasgow, Scotland, on January 3rd, 1832. From early childhood he showed rare artistic ability and spent much time sketching the vessels on the River Clyde. This gradually developed into the marked genius which characterized his later productions. When he was twelve years old, his family emigrated to Detroit. After several years in the public schools, he was apprenticed to learn carriage painting, a trade he thoroughly mastered. Later he did house, sign, and boat painting, and eventually decorating and fresco work. His remarkable talent soon brought him into notice, and the interior decorating of churches, theaters, and other public buildings, together with the painting of theatrical scenery and drop curtains, became his means of livelihood. Always, his spare time was devoted to easel painting, and this he did exclusively in his later years. There is no way of estimating the number of paintings he produced, as he kept no records, but his swift, sure brush undoubtedly created hundreds. In 1851 he married Evaline A. Godfrey, a native of Ithaca, New York? and there were six childred, a daughter and five sons. Robert Hopkin died of pneumonia on March 21, 1909, at the age of seventy-seven, and was buried in the family lot in Elmwood Cemetery, Detroit. Arthur Hopkin Gibson is a grandson of the painter, the son of Hopkin's daughter , Sophronia. Mr. Gibson was born in Detroit July 20, 1888. A graduate of Detroit's old Cass Union School, Mr. Gibson found a career in accounting, specializing in industrial costs. From the outbreak of World War II until he retired in 1953, Mr. Gibson served various Government agencies in similar positions. Since early 1959 when his wife, Ella Andros Gibson, passed away, Mr. Gibson has devoted his time to research into the life of his illustrious grandfather. The splendid result is his book, Robert Hopkin, Master Marine and Landscape Painter, just published by Edwards Brothers of Ann Arbor and available at Dossin Museum's WESTERN STATES sales booth for $4.25. Robert Hopkin and the book will be the subject of a special Dossin Museum exhibit opening April 14 (see cover).