Frank Robinson reappointed as Director of Johnson Museum

14 Feb '07

3 min read

Robinson said he is proud of the museum's growth in acquisitions for the permanent collection, its publications and its use of such new technology as handheld Palm Pilots programmed for gallery tours. The collection has grown to 32,000 works today from 9,000 works of art when the Johnson opened in 1973. The museum attracted 82,000 visitors in 2006.

Robinson said he is excited about the Johnson's next phase. The museum will break ground in 2008 for a 16,000-square-foot study-center wing to enhance its academic mission with added exhibition and lecture space. Also, the fifth floor will be renovated to better showcase its extensive Asian art collection.

"The wing will change what we do here -- [and] it will make the permanent collection more accessible," Robinson said.

Before coming to Cornell, Robinson was director of the Museum of Art at the Rhode Island School of Design for 13 years. He also taught at Williams College (where he directed the museum and the history of art graduate program) and at Dartmouth College. Robinson earned a bachelor's degree from Harvard College in 1961 and his master's and doctoral degrees at Harvard in 1963 and 1970, respectively; he has written scholarly works, exhibition catalogs and three volumes of poetry.

"It's been fun. I've been very, very lucky," Robinson said of his role at Cornell. "Very few institutions have this kind of stability, and value human beings and scholarship and put things in the proper order. This institution does."

Cornell University, USA

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