ROCKFORD ART MUSEUM | COLLECTION | PHOTOGRAPHY

Arnold Gilbert

Arnold Gilbert collected work by many of his close friends, informally hosted them in the home he and Temmie shared, and introduced them to each other-as was the case with Paul Schranz to photography legends VanDeren Coke, John Szarkowski, David Travis and Al Weber. "He brought people together from all walks of life," said Schranz. In turn, Weber introduced him to Manuel Carrillo, while Aaron Siskind Introduced Gilbert to fellow instructor Harry Callahan, as well as students Joseph Jachna, Ken Jacobson and Chuck Swedlund, all of whom became art educators themselves.

With a profound emphasis on making photography accessible, and a shared commitment by him and his wife to arts education, it comes as no surprise that Gilbert was one of the six founders of the Museum of Contemporary Photography at Columbia College in Chicago more than 20 years ago. Or that after jurying the Radius '74 photography exhibit here, he gave the same presentation to the Lens & Shutter Club (now Rockford Photo Club) as he regularly gave the high-profile, professional clubs like the Friends of Photography, of which Ansel Adams was a founding member. Or that 1,000 photos in Gilbert's Collection, purchased by the parent company of the camera giant Konica, were donated to the National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, and became the first public collection of its kind in Japan. "He had a passion for people, and he was amazingly generous guy," said Schranz