The Scholarly Legacy of
Richard E. Weisberg (1943-2011)
~ Medicine in Art in Nineteenth-Century France ~
Biography
Richard Edward Weisberg (1943-2011) was a lifetime resident of New York City. In the 1980s, after getting his teaching career well underway with two masters degrees in the 1960s and 1970s, Richard pursued doctoral studies in French history while continuing to work full-time as a devoted teacher and principal in the New York City school system. Among his many contributions during more than four decades in public education, he was the founding principal of The Cobble Hill School of American Studies in Brooklyn, supported in part by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History.
Richard Weisberg and Kathryn Annette Clark
Richard earned his B.A. in History from the City College of New York in 1963, followed by the M. A. in History from New York University in 1968 and a Professional Diploma and M. S. in Education Administration from Pace University in 1975. He was awarded the Ph.D. in history by New York University in 1995 for his dissertation, “The Representation of Doctors at Work in Salon Art of the Early Third Republic in France.” He also published curriculum guides to global studies and advanced placement courses in European history. His research on medical imagery in French art began in 1987 in a course and culminated in his dissertation, for which he used materials in libraries and archives in Paris and Oxford during several research trips abroad. Closer to home, he worked happily in the collections of Bobst Library of NYU, the Frick Collection Library, the Institute of Fine Arts of NYU, the New York Academy of Medicine Library, the New York Public Library, and the Princeton University Library.
Bert Hansen and Richard Weisberg in 1997
About a year before his death, Richard began collaborating with Bert Hansen on a coauthored scholarly article, using some of the research undertaken for the dissertation about Louis Pasteur’s personal involvement in the Parisian art world. Bert Hansen completed that initial article, followed by two more articles, all of which drew upon Richard’s dissertation about the later periods of Pasteur’s career.
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A fourth article, researched and written entirely by Hansen, expanded the initial work into a comprehensive examination of art in all stages of Pasteur’s life, from age 13 until his death in 1895. All four articles are now FREE ONLINE.
1. Richard E. Weisberg and Bert Hansen, “Collaboration of Art and Science in Albert Edelfelt’s Portrait of Louis Pasteur: The Making of an Enduring Medical Icon,” Bulletin of the History of Medicine 89:1 (Spring 2015), 59-91. This article has now been made Open Access, freely available to anyone at any time, by this link at Project Muse.
2. Bert Hansen and Richard E. Weisberg, “Louis Pasteur’s Three Artist Compatriots —Henner, Pointelin, and Perraud: A Story of Friendship, Science, and Art in the 1870s and 1880s,” Journal of Medical Biography 25:1 (February 2017), 18-27; published on-line before print on May 29, 2015). This article is now free to all users with this link at SAGE journals.
3. Bert Hansen and Richard E. Weisberg, “Louis Pasteur (1822–1895), His Friendships with the Artists Max Claudet (1840–1893) and Paul Dubois (1829–1905), and His Public Image in the 1870s and 1880s,” Journal of Medical Biography 25:1 (February 2017), 9-18; published on-line before print on May 29, 2015). This article is now free to all users with this link at SAGE journals.
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4. Bert Hansen, “Pasteur’s Lifelong Engagement with the Fine Arts: Uncovering a Scientist’s Passion and Personality,” Annals of Science, 78:3 (2021), 334-386, DOI: 10.1080/00033790.2021.1921275. This link provides open access to a free copy to anyone at any time.
Memorial book fund at the Frick
Because the Frick Art Reference Library in New York City was a precious resource for Richard Weisberg’s research and a place where he always felt at home, a book purchase fund has been established in his memory by his wife Kathryn Annette Clark to aid scholars and students for years to come. Anyone wishing to add to the Richard E. Weisberg Book Fund may send a tax-deductible contribution to The Development Office, The Frick Collection at 1 East 70th Street, New York, NY 10021. Please direct any inquiries about the Fund to The Andrew W. Mellon Chief Librarian at the Frick Art Reference Library, 10 East 71st Street, New York, NY 10021.