Cleveland

Sitting across the broad desk from David Bergholz, in an office that is clearly being packed up as he pre-pares to retire after fifteen years as president and CEO of the George Gund Foundation, there is a poignant juxtaposition that is very hard to miss. Just outside his office's large, eighteenth floor windows is a magnificent view of the industrial might that made Cleveland a player in years past; huge barges moving under steel bridges that cross an impossibly crooked river. The pewter river flanked by smoking chimneys and orderly cones of slag and salt and iron ore. On this cloudy December day, the scene gains weight from the absence of color, drawn with the gravity of deep blacks and gritty grays. But inside the windows, the walls are stark and white — walls that just a few weeks ago held dozens of richly black and white photographs of that same “wonderfully gritty city,” as Bergholz often refers to Cleveland. The fact that the art work of an executive's office is leaving with his departure is not particularly news- worthy. The story lies in where those specific works of art came from and where they now have gone.

In mid-November 2002 the Cleveland Museum of Art opened an exhibition of its newest acquisition: A City Seen: The George Gund Foundation Collection. The collection comprises 148 photographs of Cleveland, its places and its people, by twelve of the country's most acclaimed photographers. Starting in 1990, the Foundation commissioned a different nationally known photographer each year, to create a portfolio of works that focused on one aspect of the greater Cleveland community. The resultant images were used to illuminate the Gund Foundation's mission within the pages of each annual report, then were showcased within the Foundation the following year.

David Bergholz, in whose honor the collection was donated to the Museum by the Foundation's board of directors, selected the artists, in consultation with local photographer and designer, Mark Schwartz. The artists were given a broad topic that related to one of the Foundation's grantmaking interests, someone to act as a guide to the city (if they wished it) and free rein to create a portfolio of ten to fifteen compelling images.

The results, in the words of the Cleveland Museum's curator of photography, Tom E. Hinson, “are elegant expressions of the city that articulate Cleveland's significance to residents and visitors alike.” The artists include Nicholas Nixon, Dawoud Bey, Lee Friedlander, Linda Butler, Judith Joy Ross, Lois Connor, Michael Book, Gregory Conniff, Frank Gohlke, Larry Fink, Barbara Bosworth, and Douglas Lucak. And the images capture the working people of Cleveland, the diverse urban landscape, the grandeur of the city's cultural institutions, the “Emerald Necklace” of the Metroparks system that surrounds the city, sturdy urban gardens, and the vast mystery and fierce power of Lake Erie. The Cuyahoga, the city's crooked working river with its twenty movable bridges, is widely documented in panoramic scope and rich structural detail, and two series capture Cleveland schoolchildren, including the students at the Cleveland School of the Arts.

Guest curator Mark Schwartz, designer of the Gund Foundation's annual reports, says the collection “plot(s) the neighborhoods, families, schools, gardens, and waterways of a vast city to create a singular portrait. But they extend beyond the original project parameters to reveal the intelligence, patience, and sheer achievement of making a good picture.” Because they are such good pictures, the Cleveland Museum was thrilled to have this collection. This is notable, because this Museum rarely accepts private collections. Its substantial acquisition budget allows for the utmost discretion in selecting works, and the Museum can bid on the open market for specific individual works it most wants.

The inspiration for the twelve-year project, says Bergholz, was the great collection of photographs of Pittsburgh, created by Eugene Smith in the 1950s. Pittsburgh was Bergholz's hometown and he recalls his constant fascination with those images during his early career in that city. He began using photographs and working with young, emerging photographers in publications for Action Housing and the Allegheny Conference where he previously held positions. On coming to Cleveland and taking the position at the Gund Foundation, he was determined not to produce yet another “happy grantee” foundation annual report. His own commitment to the individ- ual artist and Mark Schwartz's idea to “find some good people and just let them loose” created the synergy for this project.

Bergholz likes to think of these commissions as “little Fulbrights; with discipline, but no restrictions.” This notion is in keeping with the personal philosophy he brought to the Gund Foundation's grantmaking during his tenure: that “Gund is a humane place in the world of philanthropy,” where the individual is valued and support is given to talented people doing good work. As testament to this philosophy, photography historian John Szarkowski makes the following statement in his essay for the book that accompanies the Museum's exhibit: “Almost since its beginnings, photography has attempted to describe cities ... I am not aware, however, of any such attempt ... so open-minded — so philosophically generous — as that pursued during the past dozen years by the George Gund Foundation.” One unrealized dream during David Bergholz's time at the helm, however, is that the Foundation has not made grants directly to individual artists.

The exhibition and donation of the collection not only coincides with Bergholz' retirement, it also marks the Gund Foundation's fiftieth anniversary. In that time the Foundation granted more than $380 million, most of which has benefited greater Cleveland organizations and institutions. Arts grantmaking generally comprises 14 per cent of its annual giving. The Foundation also championed a number of important community issues under Bergholz' leadership. Notable is the Foundation's convening role around discussions leading to the restoration of arts education in Cleveland's public schools.

A City Seen was on view at the Cleveland Museum of Art November 17, 2002 through January 26, 2003. A handsome book accompanied the exhibit, with a scholarly essay by Szarkowski, director emeritus of the department of photography at The Museum of Modern Art, New York. The catalogue is avaialbe from the Cleveland Museum of Art, 11150 East Boulevard, Cleveland, Ohio 44106, (216) 707-2333 or from their online store.

Kathleen Cerveny is senior program officer, arts and culture, The Cleveland Foundation.