Message from the Dean at Duncan of Jordanstone echoing all our sentiments:
We are deeply saddened to hear of the death of our former colleague, Professor Alan Robb, after an extended period of ill health beginning last year. Alan was the first Head of Fine Art at Duncan of Jordanstone and served in this capacity for twenty years following his appointment in 1983. He continued to teach Painting until retirement in 2007, holding the Chair in Fine Art from 1989, and then becoming an Emeritus Professor of the University.
Alan studied Painting at Grays School of Art in Aberdeen, becoming its first graduate to be accepted by the Royal College of Art in London. He taught Painting at the Crawford School of Art in Ireland, along with Ronald Forbes (later a colleague in Dundee), becoming Head of Painting, then Fine Art. Alan instituted considerable changes at Duncan of Jordanstone, initially by amalgamating the Schools of Drawing and Painting and Sculpture, with the addition of Printmaking into the School of Fine Art. He moved the School onto an international footing through the formation of a European consortium of 10 art schools led from Dundee. In 1993, he curated a Dundee-wide exhibition of work by 150 graduates celebrating the first ten years of Fine Art. Many of these graduates went on to teach at DJCAD and other institutions with support from the Funding Council and aided by Professors Howard and Maclean, Alan worked with External Consultants to break down the final disciplinary barriers, allowing students to move freely across the disciplines of their choice within the School of Fine Art. With the School of Design he established the College’s first Masters Programme in Public Art and Design and oversaw the introduction of practice-based PhDs across the Faculty.
Throughout this time, Alan maintained a rigorous practice in Painting, and was elected to the Royal Society of Painters in Watercolours Scotland in 2010, and to the Royal Scottish Academy of Art and Architecture in 2011. A major retrospective in the McManus Galleries in 2012 surveyed his work across four decades including loans from key public collections.
Alan died peacefully at 6 o’clock on Tuesday mor ... See MoreSee Less
