Robert Bergman (museum director)

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Robert P. Bergman (May 17, 1945 – May 6, 1999) was an

Walters Art Gallery from 1981 to 1993, and then as the director of the Cleveland Museum of Art
until 1999.

Early life and education

Robert P. Bergman was born on May 17, 1945, in

Guggenheim Fellow, and won a Rome Prize fellowship from the American Academy in Rome.[1][2][3]

Career

Academia

Bergman initially pursued an academic career in the arts from 1971 to 1981. He started his career at

Fine Arts at Harvard University.[2]

An enthusiast of museums, he ended his 16-year career in academia to eventually work at the

Walters Art Gallery.[4]

Museum directorship

Starting in 1981, he served as director of the Walters Art Gallery, and oversaw the renovation and 1988 reopening of the gallery's original building constructed in 1904, and the opening of an

Asian art gallery in 1991.[3] He directed the Walters Art Gallery until 1993, when he was chosen by the Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) as its fifth and next director,[1][5] where he would direct from 1993 until his death in 1999.[6] Under his directorship, annual attendance to the CMA increased from 400,000 to the mid-600,000s.[7] In addition to managing several major shows and thirty gallery renovations or reinstallations, he oversaw the acquisition of art encompassing all subject areas, including works by Annibale Carracci, Andy Warhol, and sixteenth-century Milanese armorer Pompeo della Cesa, as well as Constantinian jewelry and a 13th-century Pisan cross.[1][8][9]

Bergman also extensively published and lectured, discussing subjects such as medieval art and architecture or the role of museums in modern society. At the CMA, he held annual lectures on historical monuments that attracted

lobbied on behalf of various art organizations, and also served as chairman of the Cleveland Cultural Coalition and on the board of the Greater Cleveland Growth Association. He was an adjunct professor of art at Case Western Reserve University.[1][4]

Personal life

Bergman married Marcelle Posnak. The couple had one daughter.

hemophagocytic syndrome.[3][5]

References

  1. ^ a b c d "BERGMAN, ROBERT P." Encyclopedia of Cleveland History. Case Western Reserve University. May 11, 2018. Retrieved February 2, 2020.
  2. ^ a b c "Robert P. Bergman". Rutgers School of Arts and Sciences. Rutgers University. May 6, 1999. Retrieved February 8, 2020.
  3. ^ a b c McNatt, Glenn (May 7, 1999). "Robert Bergman, former director of Walters, dies; During his tenure, museum was restyled". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved February 8, 2020.
  4. ^ a b c Honan, William H. (May 7, 1999). "Robert P. Bergman, 53, Head Of Cleveland Museum of Art". The New York Times. Retrieved February 8, 2020.
  5. ^ a b Litt, Steven (March 26, 2014). "Former Cleveland Museum of Art director Robert Bergman set expansion plan in motion: CMA 2014". The Plain Dealer. Retrieved February 8, 2020.
  6. ^ Barnard, Tom (October 5, 2012). "Past Cleveland Museum of Art Directors". Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland Museum of Art.
  7. ^ "Robert P. Bergman". Cleveland Arts Prize. Retrieved February 8, 2020.
  8. ^ Fliegel, Stephen N. (June 2019). "Pompeo della Cesa, Armorer to the Court of Milan". La Gazzetta Italiana. Cleveland, Ohio: PAS Publishing. Retrieved February 8, 2020.
  9. ISBN 978-9407179168
    .
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