1920 -1973
Member of the 45 Group.
A graduate of the Boston Museum School and a student at Harvard’s Fogg Museum, Bergschneider was a member of the ‘45 Group. He ran the Nantucket School of Art in the late 1940’s and the early 1950’s, and was a sculpture instructor at the University of Arkansas starting in 1950. He lived on Monomoy Creek near the rotary.
Johnfried Georg “John” Bergschneider was a sculptor and teacher. The 3 May 1953 issue of the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported that “John G. Bergschneider, instructor in sculpture at the Cleveland Institute of Art, received the MacDowell Colony Fellowship for research study at Peterborough, N.H. The sculptor will teach at the institute the first term and begin work at the art center starting Aug. 16.”
Johnfried G. Bergschneider was a 1st Lt. in the U.S. Army. He separated from service on 7 September 1945. His retirement code was “K1 - Disability LOD (Act 3 Apr 39)”.
Johnfried Georg Bergschneider was born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1920. In his native city he underwent the rigors of the Boston Latin School and later studied at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts as the holder of a scholarship (1940-1942). A similar award enabled him to study at the Archipenko Art School (Woodstock, New York). A term as a special student at Harvard University from 1941 to 1942 was followed by service in the Army Corps of Engineers (1942-1945) and, from 1945 to 1947, further study at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.
He established and, from 1946 to 1950, directed a summer school of art on Nantucket Island, Massachusetts, followed by employment as an instructor in sculpture at the newly established art center at the University of Arkansas (1950-1952). Since 1952 he has been an instructor in sculpture at the Cleveland (Ohio) Institute of Art.
Bergschneider’s works have been exhibited widely in the East and Midwest. One-man shows began in Boston in 1949. Among indications of distinction are first prize for sculpture at a show of New England sculpture and painting at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston in 1949 and a like award at the Museum of Fine Arts in 1967. [6]