Art Critic and Curator Maurice Berger, Whose Prescient Work Addressed Representations of Race, Has Died of COVID-19 at Age 63

Maurice Berger, a critic,
curator, and historian who devoted his career to addressing race
relations in contemporary art, died yesterday from complications
related to COVID-19. He was 63.

The news was confirmed by the
Jewish Museum, where Berger curated the exhibition “Revolution of the Eye: Modern Art and the Birth
of American Television”
in 2015. 

“For more than 25 years, Berger was a valued colleague and
friend of the Museum who passionately demonstrated the highest
standards of scholarship and intellectual integrity,” the museum
wrote on its website.
“His work on race relations, American and Jewish culture, and his
belief in making exhibitions and the written word meaningful and
accessible for everyone, inspired, challenged, and encouraged so
many in the curatorial profession—and beyond.”

For seven years starting in
2012, Berger wrote “Race Stories” for the
Lens Section of the New York Times, a column that looked
at race in relationship to photography and championed many
non-white image-makers. He also wrote prolifically for publications
such as Artforum, Art in America, and
October, and authored 11 books, including the highly
influential essay collections White Lies: Race and the Myths of
Whiteness in 1999
and For All the World to
See: Visual Culture and the Struggle for Civil Rights
in 2010.

“When I was starting out,” the photography critic Danielle
Jackson wrote to Artnet News, “he was one of a few people I knew
who was working in photography who was interested in talking about
race. He wrote fearlessly about institutions and his personal
experiences alike.”

As news of Berger’s death
spread, many took to social media today to pay
respect. 

“R.I.P. dear friend, colleague
and inspiration to many,” wrote David Ross, Chair of the MFA
program in Art Practice at the School of Visual Arts. “A great
loss.”

“This is heartbreaking,” curator
and writer Antwaun Sargent, noting that he got to know Berger while on a
jury for the International Center of Photography’s Infinity Awards
in 2018. “Before it was vogue, he wrote about black
artists.”

“Maurice was one of the most
passionately activist thinkers I have ever known,” said fellow
critic Jerry Saltz, in a statement to Artnet. “His rejuvenating
writing never didn’t take a strong stand. He had a kind aura that
radiated intensity and love.”

Berger was born in New York in
1957 and grew up in a public housing project on the Lower East
Side. He received his undergraduate degree from Hunter College
before going on to get his PhD in art history and critical theory
at the City University of New York, where he studied with
influential scholar Rosalind Krauss.

Most recently, Berger held the
title of chief curator at the Center for Art, Design, and Visual
Culture at the University of Maryland, Baltimore
County. 

The post Art Critic and Curator Maurice Berger, Whose
Prescient Work Addressed Representations of Race, Has Died of
COVID-19 at Age 63 appeared first on artnet News.