He was one of the illustrators of
Time covers during the period from 1942 to 1966, which has been called the golden age of
Time covers. His portrait of
J.D. Salinger, from a 1961
Time cover, was hung at the
National Gallery of Art following the writer's death in 2010. Other cover artists during this period included
Boris Artzybasheff,
James Ormsbee Chapin,
Bernard Safran and
Boris Chaliapin. His work with tempera has aligned him with fellow tempera artists
Andrew Wyeth,
Jared French and
Paul Cadmus, who also "attempted to combine Surrealism with Realism, the amalgam being termed Magic Realism." In 1982, a retrospective exhibition of his work was held at the Museum of Art, Science and Industry in
Bridgeport, Connecticut. Vickrey received the
Gerard Manley Hopkins Award for Excellence in the Arts from
Fairfield University and the
Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts in March 2009, where a retrospective exhibition of Vickrey's paintings from 1951-2007 was held at the Thomas J. Walsh Art Gallery. The award and exhibition coincided with the publication of "Robert Vickrey: The Magic of Realism," written by Dr. Philip Eliasoph, a Fairfield University professor of art history. ==Personal life==