Fortune of the Spirit

A career-spanning examination of the work of Robert Bergman and its place within the history of American art This unprecedented publication offers a detailed analysis of Robert Bergmans psychologically penetrating art across the breadth of his career. Shaped by the vocabulary of painting as much as photography, Bergmans often wrenching, beautifully evocative photographs tumble headlong into the emotional, physical, and mental struggles of living, challenging us to look deeply within ourselves and to reconsider how we relate to strangers. Long heralded by luminaries across different disciplinesincluding the author Toni Morrison, art historian Meyer Schapiro, and social activist Peter GabelBergmans images offer a counterpoint to contemporary societys preoccupations with identity, division, and complaint. Introducing the underground legend to a new generation, this volume presents the first full survey of Bergmans work from the mid-1960s to the present, including many previously unpublished images, and essays from art historians, artists, and academics that contextualize the circumstances of Bergmans life and work and examine how his pictorial representations resonate with the human experience. Distributed for the Amon Carter Museum of American Art