Havana, 3 August 2022. "A light of sincere love for Cuba has gone out in New York at the age of 103, professor and collector Alex J. Rosenberg, to whose generous work of promotion Cuban art owes so much," wrote on Twitter the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Party and President of the Republic Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez referring to his passing on July 22, 2022.
Ever since his first visit to Havana, Rosenberg never stopped working to channel the values of contemporary Cuban art and train specialists in its management. Linked to the island's cultural institutions for the last three decades, he founded and presided over the Circle of American Friends of the Ludwig Foundation of Cuba, which led an intense activity in favor of the visibility of Cuban art, its artistic training system and the establishment of bonds of understanding and solidarity that would overcome the effects of the permanent harassment of his country's rulers against the archipelago.
Helmo Hernandez, director of the Ludwig Foundation of Cuba, described him as "an unconditional friend of the Revolution and a tireless fighter for the civil rights of his fellow citizens, who stood by our cause until his last breath," and recalled his most recent visit to Havana in April.
Among the dozens of awards received throughout his long career in several countries of the world, he had special consideration for the Distinction for National Culture, conferred by the Ministry of Culture, and the title of Doctor Honoris Causa by the University of the Arts. Among his most cherished memories, he kept the warm conversation he held, together with his wife Carol, with President Díaz-Canel at the headquarters of the diplomatic mission of Cuba to the United Nations in September 2018.
At the University of the Arts, he created in 2000 a master's degree in Works Appraisal, and was a lecturer at international events that took place in Havana during the first decade of this century. As a curator, he organized the exhibitions Henry Moore, sculptures and drawings at the Wifredo Lam Center (1997), Sculptures by Degas (2010) and Dalí, memories of surrealism (2014), at the National Museum of Fine Arts in the Cuban capital.
A member of the Editorial Board of the Artecubano magazine of the National Council of Plastic Arts, Rosenberg from the very beginning, he always suggested: "Promote novelties and current trends, but don't forget that art is a long road in which big and small stories are worth it.”
Source: Granma