Elbert Weinberg Collection

Following the death of Elbert Weinberg in 1991, the Elbert Weinberg Trust was created to manage his estate. The Trust saw unfinished projects through to completion and arranged for the exhibition of Weinberg’s work and the placement of his work in public collections. In 2013, the Trust gave the sculptor’s personal and business papers, a large group of his prints and drawings, and a comprehensive group of photographs documenting his work to the Hartford History Center, Hartford Public Library, together with several representative pieces of sculpture.

Elbert Weinberg was born in Hartford on May 27, 1928. He attended Northeast School and Weaver High School. While still a student at Weaver High School, he began taking courses at Hartford Art School, where he studied sculpture with Henry Kreis. He subsequently received his B.A. from the Rhode Island School of Design and his M.F.A. from the Yale University School of Design. In 1951, he won the Prix de Rome. Between 1951 and 1976, he lived and worked in Rome, returning frequently to the United States to teach and exhibit his work. During the winter of 1969 to 1970, he was Visiting Professor of Sculpture at Dartmouth College and from 1969 to 1971, he was Visiting Associate Professor of Sculpture at Boston University. From 1974-1976, he was Visiting Associate Professor of Sculpture at Tyler Abroad Temple University, in Rome. Weinberg returned to the United States in 1976 and served as Artist-in-Residence at Union College in Schenectady, New York from 1976 to 1980 He taught sculpture at Boston University from 1980 to 1989 and also taught drawing at the Rhode Island School of Design from 1982 to 1986 During much of this period he maintained a studio in Hartford. Weinberg died in Hartford of myelofibrosis on December 27, 1991. While best known for his sculptures of Jewish liturgical subjects, Weinberg also created many works based on Greek mythology and works honoring artists and authors whom he especially admired. Cats and dogs figure prominently in his later work. Although most of his work is figurative in nature, beginning in the 1960s, he produced some purely abstract sculptures. Grace Borgenicht was his New York dealer from the 1960s until his death. He exhibited frequently and his sculptures are in the collections of many major museums.