In addition to her lavish set designs, Margaret Frances Robinson brought to post-World War II New Orleans remarkable training and talent in painting street views of her French Quarter neighborhood. Robinson enrolled at the prestigious California School of Fine Arts (now the San Francisco Art Institute) where she was influenced by Beaux Arts sensibilities and emphasis on craftsmanship and preparation. Robinson traveled in Europe and eastern Asia for years before returning to San Francisco to open her own studio in 1940. She studied under local painter Wayman Elbridge Adams and sat for his portrait of her. Touches of California Tonalism imbue Robinson’s softly expressive, intimate, and well-contrasted renderings of the French Quarter, the preservation of which she championed passionately.