Robinson is the daughter of bookbinder Ivor Robinson MBE and Olive Robinson, a teacher. Robinson graduated with a BA Fine Art from Newcastle University. She then received an MA by thesis in Cultural History from the Royal College of Art in London. At the University of Leeds, she obtained her PhD in Art Theory. In 2005 she became the dean of the College of Fine Arts at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where she was chosen to be on the board of several museums, including the Warhol Museum and the Mattress Factory Museum. She returned to England in 2012 to become the dean of the School of Art and Design and Professor of Visual Culture at Middlesex University. She joined Loughborough University's School of Arts, English and Drama in 2017 as Professor of Feminism, Art, and Theory.
Selected publications and exhibitions
Books
Robinson, Hilary and Buszek, Maria Elena, eds. A Companion to Feminist Art. Wiley Blackwell, Malden MA; Oxford UK.
Robinson, Hilary, Tobin, Amy, and Gosling, Luci; Reckitt, Hellena, ed. The Art of Feminism: Images that Shaped the Fight for Equality, 1857–2017. Chronicle Books, San Francisco; and Tate Publishing, London.
Robinson, Hilary ‘Witness it: Activism, Art, and the Feminist Performative Subject’ in Buszek and Robinson : A Companion to Feminist Art, pp. 243-260
Robinson, Hilary ‘The early work of Griselda Pollock in the context of developing feminist thinking in art history and criticism.’ In Raluca Bibiri Griselda Pollock: From Feminism to the Concentratory and Beyond. Special issue: Images, Imagini, Images Journal of Visual and Cultural Studies n. 7 2017. Iași: Institutul European, Romania, pp. 19-50
Robinson, Hilary Pleasure, painting, politics: the three graces – or: why I like Adélaïde Labille-Guiard's Self-Portrait With Two Pupils. In: Artistic Production and the Feminist Theory of Art: New Debates III. Ayuntamiento de Vitoria-Gastiezko Udalak, Victoria-Gastiez, Spain, pp. 306–316.
Harley, Alison and James, Stephanie and Reid, Eileen and Reid, Seona and Robinson, Hilary and Watson, Yvonne The third space: a paradigm for internationalism. In: The Student Experience in Art and Design Higher Education: Drivers for Change. Jill Rogers Associates Ltd, Cambridge, pp. 167–187.
Robinson, Hilary and Harley, A. and Reid, E. and Reid, S. and Watson, Y. The third space: a paradigm for internationalisation. In: The student experience in art and design higher education: drivers for change. Drew, Linda, ed. Jill Rodgers Associates, Cambridge.
Robinson, Hilary Becoming women: Irigaray, Ireland and visual representation. In: Art, Gender and Nation: Ethnic Landscapes, Myths and Mother-Figures. Bhreathnach-Lynch, Sheila and Cusack, Tricia, eds. Ashgate, Aldershot, pp. 113–127.
Robinson, Hilary Whose beauty? Women, art, and inter-subjectivity in Luce Irigaray's writings. In: Beauty Matters. Brand, Peg Zeglin, ed. Indiana University Press, pp. 224–251.
Exhibitions
Robinson, Hilary Feminist and..., Mattress Factory, Pittsburgh, PA
