Robert Cormier was born in 1932 in Boston and was a student of R. H. Ives Gammell at Fenway Studios in Boston where he continued to live and teach portrait and figure painting and drawing for most of his life. He was the president of the Guild of Boston Artists for many years.

Robert was twenty four when he completed his best known and possibly the most compelling portrait of his career, “Man with the Fur Collar”. The picture won the “Grand Popular Prize” plus $500 at the Boston Arts Festival in 1962, which, according to newspaper accounts was attended by 700,000 people. In 1966 the picture was exhibited at the Huntington Museum in New York City, where it won the Anna Hyatt Huntington Award in 1966 and a National Gold Medal from the Council of American Societies. “The Man with the Fur Collar” is the signature picture of Robert Cormier and it defined his position as the leading portrait artist of his generation in New England. In addition to his stature as an artist, Mr. Cormier is known and beloved as a teacher and mentor to almost every living artist who has studied in the Boston School Tradition at Fenway Studios. This picture is displayed to honor his accomplishment and talent, and is an expression of deep appreciation from his numerous pupils, who have been touched by his friendship and support.