Mpls, Minnesota - Gabriel P. Weisberg, distinguished art historian and professor emeritus at the University of Minnesota, died on February 7 at the age of 83. An indefatigable researcher, collector, curator, and educator, Weisberg was a specialist in 19th-Century European Realism, Naturalism, Japonisme, and Art Nouveau. He devoted his life to bringing underrepresented or forgotten artists and art movements to light and, in so doing, succeeded in revising the art historical canon. Prof. Weisberg leaves behind a profound legacy of discovery and re-assessment in the form of fifty-five books and exhibition catalogues, innumerable essays and reviews, and many students and associates to whom he was a friend, teacher, and mentor.

Weisberg was born on May 4, 1942, in New York City. He received both his master's and doctorate degrees from The Johns Hopkins University in 1967. His introduction to academe began when he was in his twenties with professorships at the Universities of New Mexico and Cincinnati. His goal of uniting the realms of scholarship, curatorship, and public education was fully realized when he took the job as Curator of Art History and Education at the Cleveland Museum of Art (1973-81). Working with the museum's director Sherman Lee, Weisberg produced a ground-breaking exhibition on French Realist art, which became the template for his seminal book The Realist Tradition - French Painting and Drawing 1830-1900 (1980). Both book and exhibition gave the Realist style a prominent place in a modern historical awareness previously dominated by the avant-garde movements Impressionism and Post Impressionism.

The over-arching themes of exploration and revival expressed in The Realist Tradition would pervade Weisberg's work in years to come. Other books and exhibitions explored Japonisme, 19th-century printmakers, Art Nouveau, the painters François Bonvin, Léon Bonvin, P.A.J. Dagnan-Bouveret, Charles Milcendeau, Théodule Ribot, B.J.O. Nordfeldt, and Harvey Dinnerstein, and, importantly, the critics and taste-makers Philippe Burty and Siegfried Bing. Prevailing cultural contexts - collecting and patronage, urban life, early cinema and photography, the development of popular culture, and anti-Semitism - were the focus of other projects. As Weisberg's reputation grew, exhibition venues expanded to include museums across the U.S.A., France, Holland, Canada, Scandinavia, and as far afield as Japan.

Following his years in Cleveland, Prof. Weisberg served as Visiting Andrew Mellon Professor at the University of Pittsburgh (1981-82) and Director of the Humanities Projects in Museum & Historical Organizations Program at The National Endowment for the Humanities in Washington D.C. (1983-84). He joined the faculty of the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, in 1985, where he taught until his retirement in 2017.

Weisberg's many honors included fellowships awarded by the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton University (1978) and the Guggenheim Foundation (1982-83). In 1995, the French government recognized him as a Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. He also received Van Gogh Museum Scholar Award in the History of Nineteenth Century Art at the University of Amsterdam (2010), the College Art Association's Distinguished Teaching of Art History Award (2012), and numerous grants and subventions in support of his scholarly projects. He also gave back generously to the field. With his colleagues Petra ten-Doesschate Chu and Pat Mainardi, he founded the Historians of Nineteenth Century Art, an important outlet for research, communication, and collaboration among scholars. He was reviews editor for the association's on-line journal Nineteenth Century Art Worldwide until 2023. Weisberg also founded the Journal of Japonisme, published by Brill, for which he served as acquisitions editor until his death.

Weisberg's remarkable productivity was sustained by his wife and collaborator Yvonne (née Herzog), whom he married in 1967. Together, they amassed a substantial collection of two hundred mainly French and Belgian Realist drawings, which, along with supporting documents and books, they bequeathed to The Minneapolis Institute of Art. They also donated papers connected to their work on Siegfried Bing, François Bonvin, P.A.J. Dagnan-Bouveret, Théodule Ribot, and the Julian Academy to the Frick Art Research Library in New York City. These generous gifts assure Prof. Weisberg's legacy and provide a fertile source for future art historical study.

Bequests, honors, and accomplishments offer only a partial picture of Gabe Weisberg. There was also the pride he took in the accomplishments of his students past and present, his irreverent sense of humor, and his love of baseball, old movies, and a good corned beef sandwich. He is fondly remembered by those who knew him.

Gabriel P. Weisberg is survived by his wife of 59 years, Yvonne.

A memorial service is planned for a later date.

In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made in Gabriel Weisberg's name to The Laguardia High School of Music and Art in New York City.