Artist Spotlight: Jack Robinson

Roberta Flack, photographed by Robinson in the January 1, 1970 Vogue

This is the first post in a monthly series focusing on some lesser-known Condé Nast contributors.

Seeing an ad for the upcoming exhibit “Who Shot Rock & Roll?” at the Brooklyn Museum got me thinking about the photographer Jack Robinson. Robinson was a Mississippi native who had established a reputation as a leading New York fashion photographer by the late 1950s. He began working with famed New York Times fashion editor Carrie Donovan in the mid 1960s, and, when Donovan moved to Vogue, she brought Robinson along. Vogue editor Diana Vreeland liked him personally and artistically and frequently sent him assignments for one of the magazine’s new monthly features, “Vogue’s Own Boutique.” Many of the assignments were portraits of the leading pop musicians of the day, several of which can also be seen in the exhibit at the Brooklyn. The singer/songwriter craze dominated the pop music landscape at the time, and Robinson captured many of the greats – Elton John, Carly Simon, James Taylor, and Leonard Cohen, to name a few.

Joni Mitchell, photographed by Robinson in the February 1, 1969 Vogue

Tim Buckley, poet, composer, musician, and father of Jeff Buckley, photographed by Robinson in the January 1, 1969 Vogue

Iggy Pop, photographed by Robinson in the August 1, 1970 Vogue

Leonard Cohen, poet, novelist, composer, and musician, photographed by Robinson in the November 1, 1967 Vogue

Elton John, photographed by Robinson in the January 1, 1971 Vogue

Carly Simon, photographed by Robinson in the September 1, 1971 Vogue

The Kinks, photographed by Robinson in the April 15, 1970 Vogue

Tina Turner, photographed by Robinson in the January 15, 1970 Vogue

Contact sheet of outtakes of James Taylor, photographed by Robinson for the August 1, 1969 Vogue

Robinson’s personal and professional story, like that of many of his contemporaries, took a tragic turn in the early ’70s. By 1974, he was living in Memphis, battling alcoholism and done with photography altogether. A longer bio and hundreds of his photographs can be seen online at the Robinson Archive.