Roald Nasgaard (born October 14, 1941) is a champion of abstract art in Canada.

Career

Roald Nasgaard received his B.A. from the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public university, public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks a ...

(1965); M.A., University British Columbia (1967); and Doctor of Philosophy, at the

New York University Institute of Fine Arts The Institute of Fine Arts (IFA) of New York University is dedicated to graduate teaching and advanced research in the history of art, archaeology and the conservation and technology of works of art. It offers Master of Arts and Doctor of Philoso ...

. He began his career as a lecturer and assistant professor at the

University of Guelph , mottoeng = "to learn the reasons of realities" , established = May 8, 1964 ()As constituents: OAC: (1874) Macdonald Institute: (1903) OVC: (1922) , type = Public university , chancellor ...

(1971-1975), then served as the curator of contemporary art at the

Art Gallery of Ontario The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO; french: Musée des beaux-arts de l'Ontario) is an art museum in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The museum is located in the Grange Park neighbourhood of downtown Toronto, on Dundas Street West between McCaul and Beve ...

(AGO), Toronto (1975-1978), chief curator (1978-1989), and deputy director and chief curator (1989-1993). In his role as chief curator, he oversaw the expansion of the gallery's permanent collection, as well as organizing many exhibitions, often of Canadian abstract art and important international exhibitions such as ''Gerhard Richter: Paintings'' (1988), Richter's first retrospective exhibition in North America, as well as working with

Germano Celant Germano Celant (11 September 1940 – 29 April 2020) was an Italian art historian, critic and curator who coined the term " Arte Povera" (poor art) in 1967 and wrote many articles and books on the subject. Work Germano Celant was born in Genoa ...

on ''The European Iceberg: Creativity in Germany and Italy Today'' (1985). In 1993, he became senior curator of research (1993). He then served as chair of the department of art at

Florida State University Florida State University (FSU) is a public research university in Tallahassee, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1851, it is located on the oldest continuous site of higher education in the st ...

, Tallahassee (1995-2006), and as professor of art history, since 2006. He is now professor emeritus of that institution. He was co-organizer of the programming of the Institute of Modern and Contemporary Art, Calgary, Canada; visiting lecturer, University of Guelph, and

York University York University (french: Université York), also known as YorkU or simply YU, is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's fourth-largest university, and it has approximately 55,700 students, 7,0 ...

and visiting lecturer, adjunct professor at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

. He was also a research fellow at the

National Gallery of Canada The National Gallery of Canada (french: Musée des beaux-arts du Canada), located in the capital city of Ottawa, Ontario, is Canada's national art museum. The museum's building takes up , with of space used for exhibiting art. It is one of the l ...

Library and Archives (summer 2002). His exhibition, ''The Urge to Abstraction'', opened in, 2007 at the

Varley Art Gallery Frederick Horsman Varley Art Gallery, or the Varley Art Gallery of Markham, is an art museum in Markham, Ontario, Canada. The museum is situated in a building on Main Street Unionville. The gallery was named after Frederick Varley, an artist from ...

of Markham, Unionville Ont. His traveling exhibition for the Varley Art Gallery, ''The Automatiste Revolution: Montreal 1941-1960'' was exhibited at the

Albright-Knox Gallery The Buffalo AKG Art Museum, formerly known as the Albright–Knox Art Gallery, is an art museum at 1285 Elmwood Avenue, Buffalo, New York, in Delaware Park. the museum's Elmwood Avenue campus is temporarily closed for construction. It hosted e ...

in Buffalo in 2009 and he co-curated ''The Plasticiens and Beyond: Montreal, 1955–1970'' in 2013 at the

Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec The Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec ( en, National Museum of Fine Arts of Quebec), abbreviated as MNBAQ, is an art museum in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. The museum is situated in Battlefield Park and is a complex consisting of four bui ...

and the Varley Art Gallery. In 2016, he was one of the curators of ''Mystical Landscapes: Masterpieces from Monet, Van Gogh and more'' (AGO and

Musée d'Orsay The Musée d'Orsay ( , , ) ( en, Orsay Museum) is a museum in Paris, France, on the Left Bank of the Seine. It is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, a Beaux-Arts railway station built between 1898 and 1900. The museum holds mainly French art ...

) and in 2017 curated ''Higher States: Lawren Harris and his American Contemporaries'' (

McMichael Canadian Art Collection The McMichael Canadian Art Collection (MCAC) is an art museum in Vaughan, Ontario, Canada. The museum is located on a property in Kleinburg, an unincorporated village in Vaughan. The property includes the museum's main building, a sculpture garde ...

and the

Glenbow Museum The Glenbow Museum is an art and history regional museum in the city of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The museum focuses on Western Canadian history and culture, including Indigenous perspectives. The Glenbow was established as a private non-profi ...

Selected publications

He has been the author of many exhibition catalogues, including, among others: ''Yves Gaucher: A Fifteen-Year Perspective'' (1979) (and an internet book on Gaucher for the Art Canada Institute); ''Structures for Behaviour: New Sculptures by Robert Morris, David Rabinowitch, Richard Serra and George Trakas'' (1978); and ''The Mystic North: Symbolist Landscape Painting in Northern Europe and North America, 1890-1940'' (1984) which ''Artforum'' magazine called a "sweeping survey of Symbolist landscape painting in Northern Europe and North America", adding the catalogue was "fine". It said that Nasgaard had located a "European ancestry for early Modern Canadian painting". Besides receiving scholarly praise, the catalogue received popular approval. Goodreads rated the book with a full five stars. In 2001, the Florida State University Museum of Fine Arts, published his ''Pleasures of Sight and States of Being: Radical Abstract Painting Since 1990''. In 2007, Douglas & McIntyre published his book ''Abstract Painting in Canada: A History'' which is considered a substantial offering. In 2009, he co-wrote ''The Automatiste Revolution: Montreal 1941-1960'' and in 2013, co-wrote ''The Plasticiens and Beyond: Montreal, 1955–1970''. In 2017, Goose Lane Editions and the

published his co-publication ''Higher States: Lawren Harris and His American Contemporaries'' (Fredericton, New Brunswick and Kleinburg, Ontario), reviewed favorably, with reservations by a peer in the College Art Association in 2019. In the World Cataloguing Identities, Dr. Nasgaard's books have 2,661 library holdings.

Awards and honours

Dr. Nasgaard won an Ontario Art Galleries Association Curatorial Writing Award in 1991 for his essay in ''Individualités: 14 Contemporary Artists'' from France. He has held several Canada Council fellowships (1967-1968), (1970-1971) and grants as well as a Research Fellowship at the

Library and Archives (2002) and a Cornerstone (AHPEG) Grant, FSU (2006-2007). He was made an Officer of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the ...

in 2012. He also has been a member of the Toronto Public Art Commission, and of the

Gershon Iskowitz Gershon Iskowitz (1919 – January 26, 1988) was a Canadian artist of Jewish background originally from Poland. Iskowitz was a Holocaust survivor of the Kielce Ghetto, who was liberated at Buchenwald. The circumstances of his early life—the ...

Foundation.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nasgaard, Roald 1941 births Canadian art curators Canadian art historians Officers of the Order of Canada University of British Columbia alumni New York University Institute of Fine Arts alumni Living people Danish emigrants to Canada