Catherine Bert: 40 Years of Art Dealing — Inside Art With Michael Rose

Catherine Bert: 40 Years of Art Dealing — Inside Art With Michael Rose

 

Providence is often credited with having a rich cultural landscape, a tradition that dates back to the nineteenth century and before. Art dealer Catherine Little Bert, owner of Bert Gallery in Providence, has been shaping scholarship and appreciation around historic Rhode Island artists for four decades and has also helped to form the local art scene in other ways too. A respected art expert, Bert is one of the most impactful art professionals in the region.

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A graduate of Providence College, Bert earned her MA at the University of Connecticut and has studied at Christ Church at Oxford University. She also completed her Certificate of Appraisal Studies at New York University. Founded in 1984 on the ground floor of the Biltmore, her gallery has exhibited work in an unassuming storefront across from Hot Club on Bridge Street since 1992. She has sold works by artists of the Providence School, like those who were involved in the founding of RISD in 1877, and has represented some contemporary makers as well.

 

 

Asked what it has meant to her to build her art business in the Creative Capital, Bert says, “Providence has been my home since my high school years and to be able to spend 40 years promoting and celebrating the rich cultural heritage of the capital city has been terrific.  It has been a pleasure to meet the challenge of running a business that values the remarkable quality of the art community while watching the transformation of the city around.”

 

 

Bert has been part of the transformation of Providence, not just a witness to it. She was a founding member of Gallery Night Providence, an organization that has brought thousands of new visitors through the doors of local exhibition spaces. A community-minded individual, Bert also served on the Boards of Trustees for PC as well as the Rhode Island Historical Society. Beyond the state, she has been on the National Advisory Board for the National Museum of Women in the Arts since 1994 and has consulted for the American College of Greece in Athens, among other projects.

 

Bert has sold works by notable local artists for years, and has developed a rich expertise in the art history of Rhode Island. She has written, curated shows, and presented talks on dozens of artists with ties to the Ocean State. Considering what she hopes locals would appreciate about artists of this region, Bert says, “The take away is that the Providence School reflects more than local talent but artists who competed in the regional and national arenas of American Art and are in many museum collections across the country.  Edward Bannister in the National Gallery in Washington, DC, Stacy Tolman in the Metropolitan Museum and Grace Albee in the National Museum of Women in the Arts are but a few Providence School artists who are recognized beyond our state borders.”

 

 

On view in her gallery now, Bert has a series of six prints by Albee, one of the most renowned printmakers to call Rhode Island home. Several are from Albee’s time in France, where she befriended Ernest Hemingway’s first wife Hadley, and created a portrait of her that is now in the collection of The Met. Bert is also responsible for advising Brown University on the Estate of Walter Feldman, a longtime Brown art professor who studied at Yale with Josef Albers. Bert’s work selling Feldman’s artworks in her gallery and placing them in auction settings has raised considerable funds for a trust in Feldman’s name at the school.

 

For Bert, a keen researcher, acquiring artwork is all about having information. Asked what her key takeaway is about building a collection, she answers, “That art collecting is about identifying what attracts you to a piece of art, finding out as much as you can about that artist, media or subject matter so that you can make an informed decision about a purchase and then taking that art home and enjoying it.”

 

 

The collections of many art lovers have been influenced by Bert’s advice. At the end of March, she will be moving out of her longtime gallery space at 24 Bridge Street to new digs in Rumford as her business continues to evolve.

 

Looking forward, Bert says she is excited for the next stage of her career. She says, “That the visual arts are infectious. After a long career in the arts I am even more passionate about the visual arts and eager to continue to learn and explore art in galleries, museums and auctions.  The visual arts have and will continue to enrich my life.”

 

Catherine Little Bert is a storied art dealer who all art enthusiasts in the state should know. Learn more about her current projects and exhibitions at www.bertgallery.com.