Robert C. Morgan (1943 – October 23, 2024) was an Americanart critic, art historian, curator, poet, and visual artist.

Robert C. Morgan received hisM.F.A. insculpture from theUniversity of Massachusetts, Amherst in 1975 and hisPh.D. in art education fromNew York University in 1978. Professor Morgan had an extensive academic career. He taught atNew York University,Wichita State University, theUniversity of Rochester, theSchool of Visual Arts,Barnard College, andColumbia University. From 1981- 2001, he was Professor of the History and Theory of Art at theRochester Institute of Technology. He was an adjunct professor of Fine Arts in the Graduate School of Fine Arts atPratt Institute inBrooklyn, New York.

Morgan worked extensively as an independentcurator. He organized museum retrospectives ofAllan Kaprow (1979) andKomar and Melamid (1980), both at theUlrich Museum of Art in Kansas. In 1990, he curatedConcept -- Decoratif in conjunction with theHolly Solomon Gallery in New York. From 1989 to 1990, he directed the Nahan gallery inSoHo in New York City^[1] where he curated a dozen exhibitions of both emerging and established artists, includingCarolee Schneemann,Nancy Grossman, Hung Liu, Hong-Wen Lin,Robert Barry,Douglas Huebler,Mel Bochner,Antoni Muntadas, andMax Ernst. In 1994, he co-organized the exhibitionLogo Non Logo with French criticPierre Restany at the Thread Waxing Space in New York, which later traveled to the Art Museum of theUniversity of South Florida in Tampa, Florida.

Morgan authored numerous books, catalogs and monographs on contemporary artists in various countries. His book on the American conceptualistRobert Barry was published by Karl Kerber Press in Bielefeld, Germany (1986).Haim Steinbach was published by the Musee d’Art Contemporain,Bordeaux (1988).Duchamp, Androgyny, Etc., (onMarcel Duchamp) was published by Editions Antoine Candau inParis (1990). AHans BellmerMiscellany was published by Baum/Malmburg inMalmö, Sweden in 1993. HisTurkish Bath installation atArtists Space in 1976 has been recognized an early example ofpost-conceptual art.

Morgan frequently wroteart criticism for theBrooklyn Rail. His books and collected critical essays published include commentaries onconceptual art,post-conceptual art, and thenew media arts (Umbrella Associates, 1992). He published the following books in the United States:After the Deluge: Essays on the Art of the Nineties, (Red Bass Publications, 1993),Conceptual Art: An American Perspective (McFarland, 1994);Art into Ideas: Essays on Conceptual Art (Cambridge University Press, 1996),Between Modernism and Conceptual Art (McFarland, 1997): andThe End of the Art World (Allworth Press, 1998).

His critical anthologies onGary Hill (2000) andBruce Nauman (2002) were published byJohns Hopkins University Press. An edited volume of the late writings by the criticClement Greenberg was published by theUniversity of Minnesota Press in 2003. In 1995, he traveled to Korea on aFulbright Fellowship.^[2]

Morgan died fromamyloidosis on October 23, 2024, at the age of 81.^[3]

• Duchamp, Androgyny, Etc., Editions Antoine Candau, Paris 1990
• Commentaries on theNew Media Arts Pasadena, CA: Umbrella Associates, 1992
• After the Deluge: Essays for Art in the Nineties. New York: Red Bass, 1993
• Conceptual Art: An American Perspective. Jefferson, NC and London: McFarland, 1994. Introduction byMichael Kirby
• Art Into Ideas: Essays onConceptual Art. London:Cambridge University Press, 1996
• BetweenModernism andConceptual Art. Jefferson, North Carolina and London: McFarland, 1997
• The End of the Art World New York: Allworth Press (in collaboration with theSchool of Visual Arts), 1998. Introduction by Bill Beckley
• The enigmatic world of Dmitri Strizhov. Author. Global Curiosity, 1st edition. 1998
• Gary Hill, editor. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000
• Bruce Nauman, editor. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002
• Clement Greenberg: Late Writings, editor. University of Minnesota Press. 2003
• Vasarely. New York: George Braziller, 2004
• Wild Dogs in Bali: The Art of Made Wianta. Singapore: SNP Editions, 2005

Anthologies and monographs

• "Asparagus and Chrysanthemums = Sentimentality and Power," in Muntadas and D'Agostino, eds., The Un/Necessary Image, New York: Tanam Press and Cambridge, Committee on the Visual Arts, MIT, 1983
• "The Delta of Modernism" Re-Dact, Edited by Peter Frank. New York: Willis, Locker, and Owens, 1984. Revised and reprinted in Kostelanetz, ed., Esthetics Contemporary, 2nd Edition, (Buffalo, New York: Prometheus Books, 1989 ( Spanish Translation appeared in Revista Esthetica (CAYC, Buenos Aires), Fall 1991. Revised in The End of the Art World, New York: Allworth Press, 1998.
• "Systemic Books by Artists" inJoan Lyons, ed., Artists' Books: A Critical Anthology and Sourcebook, Peregrine Smith Books andVisual Studies Workshop Press, Rochester, N.Y., 1985.
• Haim Steinbach: Monograph of an Exhibition, Bordeaux:capc Musee d'art contemporain, 1990 (French)
• Joseph Nechvatal: Laminations of the Soul inJoseph Nechvatal. Paris: Antoine Candau Editions, 1990 (English and French) (Online)
• "La Situacion del Arte Conceptual Desde "January Show" Hasta Nuestros Dias" inJuan Vicente Aliaga and José Miguel G. Cortés, editors, Arte Conceptual Revisado, Universidad Poletechnica de Valencia, 1990 (Spanish and English)
• "Entretien avec Robert C. Morgan" enRichard Serra: Ecrits et Entretiens, 1970-89 (Daniel Lelong Editeur, 1990). English Edition, Chicago University Press, 1993
• Colin Naylor, ed .Contemporary Masterworks (London: St. James Press, 1992) Entries include critical discussions of works byIsamu Noguchi, Gordon Bunschaft, and Josep Renau.
• Oscar de Mejo:The Naive Surrealist, Essay by Robert C. Morgan. New York: Abrams, 1992
• Marcel Delmotte. Essay by Robert C. Morgan. Nahan Galleries (in collaboration with Galerie Isy Brachot, Brussels), 1991
• "The Miralda Honeymoon Celebration in Las Vegas", Nevada State Council on the Arts, 1992
• "Hans Bellmer:The Infestation of Eros" in A Hans Bellmer Miscellany, Anders Malmburg, Malmö and Timothy Baum, New York, 1993
• "Dorothea Tanning's Sculptural Interlude" in Dorothea Tanning (New York: George Braziller, 1995)
• "Philip Glass: The Photographer" (1984, revised 1996), Writings on Glass: Essays, Interviews, Criticism. Edited byRichard Kostelanetz and Robert Flemming. (New York: Schirmer Books, 1997)
• "The Language of Eros" in Noritoshi Hirakawa, Matters, 1988–1997. New York: Deitch Projects and Antwerp: Zeno X Gallery, 1998
• "A Sign of Beauty" in Bill Beckley andDavid Shapiro, Uncontrollable Beauty. New York: Allworth Press, 1998.
• "Touch Sanitation: Mierle Laderman Ukeles" in Linda Frye Burnham and Steven Durland, editors. The Citizen Artist: 20 Years of Art in the Public Arena. Critical Press. The Gunk Foundation, 1998
• "The End of the Art World" (excerpt) in Patricia Hills, Modern Art in the USA: Issues and Controversies of the 20th Centuries" Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2000

• Ciria, (Pronounced Thiria) (2013), directed by Artur Balder

• Conceptual art
• Post-conceptual art
• Institutional Critique
• Postmodern art
• Computer art
• Electronic art
• Systems art
• New media art
• Generative art

Wikiquote has quotations related toRobert C. Morgan.

• Official site for Robert C. Morgan
• Robert C. Morgan in Conversation with Phong Bui (July-August 2009)
• Gallery site for Proyectos Monclova
• Robert C. Morgan atIMDb
• Robert C. Morgan atIMDb
• Robert C. Morgan discography atDiscogs

• 1943 births
• 2024 deaths
• American art critics
• American art historians
• American art curators
• Cultural historians
• Artists from New York (state)
• American conceptual artists
• Rochester Institute of Technology faculty
• American male poets
• Post-conceptual artists
• Pratt Institute faculty

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata