A Life Between Hemispheres Born in the industrial heart of Leeds, Robert Atkinson sought a different air, eventually finding himself in the studios of Antwerp. It was under the guidance of Verlat that his hand first learned the discipline of form and light. By 1885, driven by a need for better health, he turned his gaze toward the southern reaches of the globe, arriving in New Zealand. He established a studio in the Victoria Arcade in Auckland, a space where the quiet intensity of his studies began to take shape. His presence in the colonies was marked by a steady hand and a desire to capture…