From the earliest days of the Archive, we heard regularly from some of Jack’s friends who told us that he always felt that his body of work deserved a monograph, a “coffee table book”. We wholeheartedly agreed, and it became the first real hurdle the Archive had to get over in establishing Jack’s legacy as one of the more notable photographers of his time. Our first book of Jack’s photographs, On Show, Portraits 1958-1972, was published in 2011 and it focused on his Vogue Magazine celebrity work. Our second book of Jack’s photographs, A Sojourn in Paradise, was published in 2020 and it focused on Jack’s New Orleans early 1950s photographs and the world those photographs described. As well as a series of chapbooks, future books are planned for Jack’s fashion photographs as well as perhaps an additional book of just his studio portraits.
Jack Robinson On Show Portraits 1958-1972
Published in 2011 by Palazzo Editions Ltd.,
Bath, England, 192 pages
Foreword by Cybill Shepherd
Introduction by George Perry
Afterword by Gloria Vanderbilt
Published in 2011, this is a retrospective of mostly Jack’s celebrity portraits taken while on freelance assignment for Vogue Magazine. With the enormous help and guidance of Colin Webb of Palazzo Editions in Bath, England, the Jack Robinson Archive compiled this 192 page selection of some of Jack’s best photographs from some of his more notable sessions. Cybill Shepherd wrote a lovely memory of Jack as a foreword, and noted British journalist and critic George Perry wrote a wonderful introduction. Working together with her son the journalist Anderson Cooper, Gloria Vanderbilt also gave us a sweet memory of Jack as an Afterword.
A Sojourn in Paradise
Jack Robinson in 1950s New Orleans
Published in 2020 by The University Press of Mississippi,
Jackson, Mississippi, 324 pages
Text by Howard Philips Smith
Foreword by Emily Oppenheimer
Published in 2020, just as COVID was becoming famous, A Sojourn in Paradise, Jack Robinson in 1950s New Orleans, was the culmination of years of research about Jack’s years in New Orleans. Jack did not leave much in the way of written memories or even very much ephemera from his years in New Orleans, so it took a brilliant effort by Howard Philips Smith to tell this remarkable tale. Starting with the photographs, he wove together all the fragments collected by historians, biographers, and the memories of Jack’s friends to create a complete story of Jack and the important role he played in the dynamic world of post-War New Orleans, especially the world of post-War gay New Orleans. It’s an important story, and it took a man of Howard’s abilities to do it justice. The designers at The University Press of Mississippi put together a gorgeous presentation, and the Archive’s Director, Emily Oppenheimer, who worked shoulder-to-shoulder with Howard throughout the entire process, provided a beautiful introduction. All of us at the Archive are immensely proud of this book.