Connie Robins Romano, a writer and Soho resident for more the 40 years, died in her home on Dec. 8. She was 82 years old.
She was born July 31, 1933, in New York City. Robins was a poet, art historian and widely published art critic, and a teacher.
According to the art historian Joan Marter, “Robins wrote one of the most important books about art of the 1970s,” referring to “The Pluralist Era, American Art, 1968-81.” Romano was determined to include many women artists, African-American artists and abstraction, and to discuss various art forms with precision and enthusiasm.
Robins was fully engaged and devoted to the world of art. She was a member of the International Association of Art Critics.
A passionate and dedicated teacher, she taught art criticism and art history at Brooklyn’s Pratt Institute, as well as at the School of Visual Arts.
In her later years, Robins turned from writing art criticism to poetry. She has published five books of poetry (three of them published by Marsh Hawk Press), including “Facing It,” “Marble Goddesses With Technicolor Skins,” “One Thousand Years,” “Today’s Menu” and her last book, “Facing It Again,” a collaboration with her late husband, the artist Sal Romano. She wrote under the name Corinne Robins.
Robins was the coordinator for the Poets For Choice reading series at Ceres Gallery in New York City; at her poetry readings, she presented with emotion and gravity, and held the attention of her audience.
She is survived by her sister, Phyllis Kronick, and her daughter, Joyce Romano.
