Robin Starr

Robin S.R. Starr is General Manager at Bonhams Skinner, one of the company's most important departments. She manages a staff of specialists who appraise and catalogue prints, paintings, photographs and works on paper for a variety of clients, including arts and cultural institutions, estates, major collectors and private individuals.

In her previous role as Vice President and Director of American & European Works of Art, Robin oversaw the sale of a diverse range of works: from Agnes Martin's diminutive Blue Flower, sold for $1.5 million in May 2015 and Abraham Lincoln: The Man by Augustus Saint-Gaudens sold for $1.15 million in January 2022 to Alfred von Wierusz-Kowalski's The Daring Escape, sold for $504,500 in May 2020.

Robin is widely regarded as one of Bonhams Skinner's most vibrant and animated auctioneers, bringing an enthusiastic spirit to the podium at our American & European Fine Art auctions. Her areas of expertise are American paintings and prints from the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Outside of Bonhams Skinner, Robin is a major contributor to Boston's thriving arts and culture community. In addition to conducting numerous benefit appraisal days, lectures and auctions throughout the year, she has lectured in art history at various colleges across New England, including 19 years as a Lecturer at Boston College in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. She is also an appraiser on PBS television series The Antiques Roadshow.

Robin joined Bonhams Skinner in September 1987 as a Research and Cataloguing Assistant in the American & European Paintings & Prints department. She received her M.A. in the History of Art, specialising in early mediaeval art, from Williams College. As an undergraduate, Robin combined an unusual double major in Art History and Physics through research in neutron activation autoradiography and its applications in art historical research at Bates College.