Robert Courtright’s curiosity about historical architecture began in his hometown library in Sumter, South Carolina. Following studies at St. John’s College and the New School for Social Research, Courtright enrolled at New York’s Art Students League, where he was instructed by Jack Levine, Robert Brackman, Carl Holty, and Vaclav Vytlacil. His continued fascination with architectural science and aesthetics drew him to Rome in 1953, where he first began to create the collages for which he is most widely known.