Robert Rosenblum (July 24, 1927 – December 6, 2006) was an American

art historian Art history is the study of aesthetic objects and visual expression in historical and stylistic context. Traditionally, the discipline of art history emphasized painting, drawing, sculpture, architecture, ceramics and decorative arts; yet today, ...

and

curator A curator (from la, cura, meaning "to take care") is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the parti ...

known for his influential and often irreverent scholarship on European and American art of the mid-eighteenth to 20th centuries.

Biography

Rosenblum was born in New York City and studied art history at

Queens College Queens College (QC) is a public college in the Queens borough of New York City. It is part of the City University of New York system. Its 80-acre campus is primarily located in Flushing, Queens. It has a student body representing more than 170 ...

and

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the w ...

and, in 1956, received his Ph.D. from

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, th ...

's Institute of Fine Arts.Robert Rosenblum, 79, Fine Arts Scholar at NYU - December 8, 2006 - The New York Sun
/ref> Rosenblum's many publications include ''Cubism and Twentieth Century Art'' (1960), ''Transformations in Late Eighteenth Century Art'' (1967), ''Modern Painting and the Northern Romantic Tradition: Friedrich to Rothko'' (1973), and ''Nineteenth Century Art'' (co-authored with H.W. Janson, 1984). However, he is perhaps best known for his innovations in curatorial practice, such as his inclusion of non-canonical works and his rejection of standard chronological ordering. Rosenblum held teaching positions at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...

, the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

(where he was

Slade Professor of Fine Art The Slade Professorship of Fine Art is the oldest professorship of art and art history at the universities of Cambridge, Oxford and University College, London. History The chairs were founded concurrently in 1869 by a bequest from the art collect ...

for 1972–73) and the Institute of Fine Arts at

. He was also the Stephen and Nan Swid Curator of Twentieth-Century Art at the

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, often referred to as The Guggenheim, is an art museum at 1071 Fifth Avenue on the corner of East 89th Street on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. It is the permanent home of a continuously exp ...

.Guggenheim Museum – News

References

1927 births 2006 deaths American art historians American art curators Princeton University faculty University of Michigan faculty Slade Professors of Fine Art (University of Oxford) New York University faculty Queens College, City University of New York alumni Yale University alumni New York University Institute of Fine Arts alumni Deaths from colorectal cancer 20th-century American historians American male non-fiction writers 20th-century American male writers {{US-art-historian-stub