Veteran and Architectural Photographer Cervin Robinson of Wakefield Dies at 94
Friday, December 30, 2022
Cervin Robinson, architectural photographer and writer, died peacefully in his sleep at age 94 in Wakefield, RI. His death was the result of complications from dementia and old age. Born May 18, 1928 in Boston, the son of Frank J. Robinson, architect, and Mary Burchill Robinson, he was educated at the Dexter School, Exeter Academy, and Harvard University.Cervin served two years in the US Army, and then started a career in architectural photography as assistant to Walker Evans and as a photographer for the Historical American Buildings Survey for the Library of Congress. Over time his reputation grew and his work was used by architects and architectural publications, a partial list of which includes Architectural Forum, The Architectural Review, The Society of Architectural Historians and Places to which he also contributed many articles.
The New Criterion’s J. Duncan Berry referred to him as “perhaps the most celebrated of any living architectural photographer.” Cervin co-authored Skyscraper Style (1975) with Rosemary Haag Bletter and Architecture Transformed (1985) with Joel Herschman, and he contributed illustrations to many books, most notably The Architecture of Frank Furness (1973) by James F. O’Gorman, Living Architecture (1997), text by James F. O’Gorman, Louis Sullivan: the Function of Ornament (1986), text by David Van Zanten. His work was exhibited at the Brooklyn Museum, the Philadelphia Museum, Wellesley College, the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Ammon Carter Museum, the New York Municipal Arts Society, Case Western Reserve and the Wolk Gallery at M.I.T.
He received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1971 and was twice a Fellow at the MacDowell Colony. An honorary member of the A.I., he received a special commendation in 1986 as a photographer and historian. His work has been reviewed by, among other publications, The New York Times (Paul Goldberger), The New Yorker (Brendon Gill), and The New Criterion (J. Duncan Berry).
Cervin traveled and photographed extensively in Europe and the US. He was an elite race walker who was nominated New England Regional Champion 1990 after placing first - not just in his age group of over 60 - in a 50 kilometer race. He never officially retired but did commercial work into his late eighties. He is survived by his wife of 61 years, Lucy Hodgson, and two sons, Samuel Hodgson Robinson and Moses Hazard Robinson. Funeral services will be private.
