Richard Cleary collection

Richard Louis Cleary was born on May 4, 1951 in Madison, Wisconsin to Gerard Cleary and Dorothy Ann Boote (later Hoover). Cleary earned his Bachelor of Arts with Honors in Art History in 1975 from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In 1977, he graduated with his Master of Arts in Art History from the same university. In the summers of 1980, 1982, and 1983, while working toward his PhD, he served as an Instructor for the Parsons School of Design Summer Paris Program. Also in 1982, he began work as an Assistant Professor in the Carnegie Mellon University Department of Architecture. In 1986, he earned his PhD in Art History from Columbia University. Three years later, in 1989, he became an Associate Professor at Carnegie Mellon. He left Carnegie Mellon University to join the faculty at the University of Texas School of Architecture in 1995, where he remained until his retirement in 2019. In 1999, with his promotion from Assistant to Associate Professor, Cleary ws named Page Southerland Page Fellow in Architecture. In 2008, he earned tenure and elevated to full Professor. Since 2018, he has served as an Honorary Fellow in the Department of Art History at his alma mater, the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Cleary is an architectural historian known for his work on Frank Lloyd Wright and French architecture from the ancien régime. His Frank Lloyd Wright scholarship focuses on projects in and around Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in particular Fallingwater and Kentuck Knob (Hagan House). In 1999, Cleary published his book, Merchant Prince and Master Builder: Edgar J. Kaufmann and Frank Lloyd Wright, followed by curating an exhibit of the same name at the Heinz Architectural Center in the Carnegie Museum of Art. In 2000 he presented a lecture of the same name at the annual conference meeting of the Art Libraries Society of North America. For Kentuck Knob, Cleary served as a Consulting Architectural Historian for its restoration after a fire damaged the property in 1986. He went on to serve as a member of the Board of Directors and Chair of the Annual Meeting Program Committee for the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy from 2008-2011, and remained as a member of the Annual Meeting Program Committee from 2011-2012. He was also on an Advisory Committee for an exhibition on the work of Frank Lloyd Wright at the Guggenheim Museum from 2008-2009.

Cleary's interest in French architecture and planning resulted in his Master’s Thesis on Jacques-François Blondel, and his PhD dissertation on the places royales of two French Monarchs, Louis XIV and Louis XV. In 1999 he expanded his dissertation into his book, The Place Royale and Urban Design in the Ancien Régime. Beyond the confines of France itself, Cleary also wrote on the impact of French architecture on Texas, with articles such as “Texas Gothic, French Accent: The Architecture of the Roman Catholic Church in Antebellum Texas” (2007). Cleary spent some time researching campus planning as well and, with his colleague Lawrence Speck, co-authored The University of Texas at Austin: Campus Guide (2011), which details the architectural history of the University of Texas at Austin. In addition to his work in the realms of architecture and art history, Cleary spent time from 1972-1977 working as a Production Stage Manager, Lighting Designer, and Assistant Lighting Designer for various performing arts organizations across the world, including the Opera Company of Boston, the Australian Ballet, the Pennsylvania, and the Nebraska Repertory Theatre. This multidisciplinary appreciation for the arts affected his pedagogy, which often involved engagement with different artforms including music, theater, and puppetry.

Sources:

Cress Funeral and Cremation Services. “Gerard Cleary Obituary 2014.” Accessed May 15, 2024. https://www.cressfuneralservice.com/obituaries/gerard-cleary.

“Richard Cleary | School of Architecture.” Accessed May 15, 2024. https://soa.utexas.edu/faculty/richard-cleary.

“Richard Cleary - Ancestry.Com.” Accessed May 15, 2024. https://www.ancestryheritagequest.com/search/?name=richard_cleary&event=_madison-dane-wisconsin-usa_53355&birth=1953&birth_x=5-0-0&name_x=1_1.