Adah Robinson

Adah Matilda Robinson (July 13, 1882 – March 10, 1962) was an American artist, designer and teacher, who influenced many other artists, especially architects, during the first half of the 20th century. Born in Indiana, she was educated in art schools in the Chicago area, as well as receiving private lessons from noted artist there during the late 19th century. Adah moved with her family to Oklahoma City, where she began teaching art. She moved to Tulsa and became the first art teacher at Tulsa High School.^[a] One of the pupils in her first class was the aspiring artist, Bruce Goff. Later, she taught another student, Joseph R. Koberling, Jr., who would also become a noted architect. In 1928, she was hired as the founder and chairperson of the Art Department at the University of Tulsa.

Robinson never claimed to be an architect, nor did she have any formal training in the subject. She was primarily a painter and a printmaker, as well as an art teacher.^[1] Yet, she is best known for her role in designing the Boston Avenue Methodist Church in Tulsa, which is now a National Historic Landmark and considered an exceptional example of Art Deco architecture, although controversy surrounds whether she or her former student, Bruce Goff, deserves more credit for the church's distinctive design. During her lifetime, many people did not believe that a woman could be responsible for such a work.^[2]

In 1948, after a University of Tulsa official disputed her role in the design of the church, she resigned her position at the school and accepted a similar position at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. She retired from Trinity in 1959 and moved back to Tulsa, where she continued to work privately. Never married, she died in Tulsa on March 10, 1962.^[1]

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