Frank Robinson praised for his transformative role at the Johnson Museum

Frank Robinson
University Photography
Frank Robinson stops by a Johnson Museum gallery as schoolchildren view Alberto Giacometti's sculpture "L'Homme qui marche II."

Frank Robinson, who is retiring in June after 19 years as the Richard J. Schwartz Director of the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, was thanked and lauded for his service by Cornell administrators, museum staff and Museum Advisory Council members at a dinner in his honor May 12.

"We're all going to miss him," said Susan Lynch, a presidential councillor and museum benefactor who contributed to the new museum wing that Robinson has shepherded toward its opening this October. "We were saying, 'How can you leave now?' But he's determined. He said he should leave now and leave the next person something. He's such an absolutely down-to-earth person."

Robinson and his wife, Margaret, joined the guests for dinner and speeches in the museum's sixth-floor conference room. Speakers included Provost Kent Fuchs, who praised Robinson's "passion for art, for the museum, for Cornell, his passion for people and his impact on students."

"Frank is very allergic to praise - he will tell you he had very little to do with it," said John Siliciano, senior vice provost for academic affairs. "Frank and this museum bring light to Ithaca in a way that is truly important and special."

Robinson headed the Rhode Island School of Design's Museum of Art for more than 13 years before coming to Cornell. Museum directors usually stay in one place for only five or 10 years, Robinson has said.

Noting Robinson's "zeal and enthusiasm," his longtime friend President Emeritus Frank H.T. Rhodes said Cornell was fortunate to have Robinson at the museum's helm for so many years.

"Museum directors are a very peripatetic group," Rhodes said. "It was our good fortune to entice him here, and we were particularly fortunate that he chose to stay."

Robinson said he will take a few months off and then return part time to Cornell and one of the many facets of the director's job he enjoyed - fundraising.

Calling him "a community-builder," Rhodes spoke warmly of Robinson, quoting one of his haiku, praising his work on the road more than 100 days a year as a fundraiser, and remembering a trip they took to Scandinavia where both wore "Viking hats with horns."

"A museum is much more than a collection of objects; it is a living cultural center, a community center," Rhodes said. "You have transformed us."

Robinson prefaced his own comments by saying that his talk would be the shortest of the night.

"When I first came here - I had never been to Ithaca before - I was impressed by the range of this place … with the intellectual powerhouse in the midst of such great natural beauty," he said. "I decided to stay here because of the values of the institution, and the people - they had a respect and above all an openness, a spirit of helpfulness to the campus, and the whole community."

The group watched a video showing Robinson giving a recent behind-the-scenes tour, expounding on everything from the origins of the museum with the gift of a large print collection more than 60 years ago, to the recent $22 million renovation and expansion project.

On camera, Robinson describes some of his favorite art in loving detail, including several Rembrandt etchings and a sculpture by Alberto Giacometti, and repeats one of his longtime sayings - "Our job is to bring art and people together."

"I'm very grateful to him for his interest in the educational mission of the museum," said the museum's associate director and curator of education Cathy Klimaszewski, a museum staff member for 23 years. "He puts visitors first, and I think his tenure at the university really reflects that."

Advisory council member Beth Heydinger Treadway '70 commented recently: "It is hard to imagine a Johnson Museum without Frank Robinson at its helm, but Frank's focus on the Johnson's mission has left Cornell with a museum strong enough to transcend even his retirement."

"You can come into this place and look at the views, but to get the most out of the museum, you need to say, 'I want to learn,'" Robinson said earlier this year. "I still believe that you can't leave a museum as narrow a person as when you enter."

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