David Marcus Robinson ( – 28 January 1999) was an Irish painter and sculptor with a primitive representational style. Early life Robinson was born on in Belfast, Northern Ireland, the son of a house painter. Robinson began drawing at an early age and preferred it to playing outdoors with other children. His talents were first recognised whilst at Perth Street School were his teacher suggested he received artistic training. Unfortunately due to financial constraints this was not possible so Robinson held a succession of menial jobs such as dish-washer and pearl-diver until, the age of twenty when he began an apprenticeship in welding. As a child Robinson "read voraciously on art". For a time Robinson was a successful amateur featherweight boxer, fighting under the name Boyo Marko. At the outbreak of World War II he joined the Casualty Service of the Civil Defence. Robinson trained for a short time at Belfast School of Art in the late 1930s and early 1940s, working for a time with Sidney Smith who held a studio on Howard Street. He was seen to be a mysterious character who frequently disappeared for long periods of time, only to re-appear with numerous completed paintings. It is assumed that in these periods of absence that he was working at sea. Robinson held a studio on the Crumlin Road for a number of years. In 1944 he married a local stitcher called May Clarke, living initially just a few doors away from his parents. The couple were to have two daughters, Bernice and Annie. Artistic career Throughout the 1940s Robinson showed with the Ulster Academy of Arts and at Heals Mansard Gallery in London. Robinson entered two works to the Civil Defence Art Exhibition in 1943. Bomb Crater in Eglington Street and Fire at the International were accepted from the 1,300 works submitted to the juried exhibition and went on display at Belfast Museum and Art Gallery. They were later amongst twelve works including Romeo Toogood's Gleno and James McCord's McAdam's Farm, forwarded to London for inclusion in the Civil Defence Exhibition on Bond Street that summer. The Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts sponsored a group exhibition in the textile business of William Ewart & Sons on Bedford Street in Belfast in 1944 when Robinson showed alongside Colin Middleton, George Campbell, Gerard Dillon and Sidney Smith. Robinson travelled extensively in his time as a