Milwaukee Art Museum Blog

Conserving “The Suitcase”

For more than two years, the conservation team at the Milwaukee Art Museum has been collaborating with other experts to conserve Robert Gober’s Untitled installation so it can return to the galleries and again immerse viewers in an animated, watery scene, as the artist originally intended. When visitors peer inside the suitcase, they often think the watery tableau is created by a screen. The truth is much more exciting! What you see is a sculpted pool filled with gently lapping water, silicone seaweed, and wax limbs. But this installation, like all artwork, is not inert. Gober made the work in 1997, and over the course of 26 years, mechanical elements became worn and algae grew.

Art

In the Driver’s Seat: Steering a Volvo into the Museum

Post author By Milwaukee Art Museum
Post date March 17, 2023
1 Comment on In the Driver’s Seat: Steering a Volvo into the Museum

Spoiler alert: Visitors who come to the Museum for the exhibition Scandinavian Design and the United States, 1890–1980 will find a Volvo in the galleries. Dedicated to the extensive cultural exchange between Scandinavia and the U.S. in the 20th century, the exhibition presents the Volvo and its innovative seatbelts as examples of design for social change.

20th and 21st Century Design Exhibitions Library/Archives

Paging Through the Publications on View in “Scandinavian Design and the United States”

Post author By Anthony Morgano
Post date March 15, 2023
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Alongside the brightly colored Dala horses, large-scale woven artworks, and fabulous furniture featured in the Scandinavian Design and the United States, 1890–1980 exhibition are eight publications from the Milwaukee Art Museum Research Center—two magazines, an exhibition catalogue, three books, a beautiful serigraph, and an interactive ergonomics manual.

Why, you may be asking, are these publications on display in an exhibition with works of art and design?

Art Art News

Remembering Isabel Bader

Photo of Isabel Bader and Dr. Alfred Bader by Front Room Studios

We at the Milwaukee Art Museum were deeply saddened to learn of the recent passing of Isabel Bader, a loss that is greatly felt within our Museum family. A longtime patron and friend of the Museum, Isabel was known for her remarkable passion and steadfast commitment to the arts, which had a profound impact on our institution and our community. For decades the Museum has benefited from the boundless generosity and invaluable support of Isabel, her late husband Dr. Alfred Bader, and the Bader Family’s charitable foundation, Bader Philanthropies, Inc.

American Art Collection Contemporary

American Artworks Newly on View

Post author By Milwaukee Art Museum
Post date July 27, 2022
1 Comment on American Artworks Newly on View

True or false: the Museum’s collection galleries always stay the same?

Tags American Art

Art Art News

Celebrating Marcelle Polednik: Women of Influence Award Winner

Post author By Milwaukee Art Museum
Post date June 20, 2022
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The Milwaukee Art Museum is thrilled to announce our very own Marcelle Polednik, Donna and Donald Baumgartner Director, has been honored with a Milwaukee Business Journal Women of Influence Award for her significant contributions to the arts and our community.

Art Behind the Scenes Collection Reflection Curatorial European

Questions of Provenance: Recent Discoveries: “Wedding Procession in the Tyrol” by Wilhelm Ludwig Friedrich Riefstahl

Wilhelm Ludwig Friedrich Riefstahl (German, 1827–1888), *Wedding Procession in Tyrol* (detail), ca. 1866. Oil on canvas. Gift of the René von Schleinitz Foundation, M1962.90.

Periodically in the past, the blog has featured a series of posts called “Questions of Provenance,” which discussed issues related to provenance, or the history of ownership of a work of art. Over the next few months, this series will continue with posts highlighting recent research into works in the Milwaukee Art Museum’s collection. In case you missed it, the first one was published in January.

The last story I shared was about an accidental discovery related to the provenance of the painting Dance Under the Linden Tree (1881) by Ludwig Knaus. Today, I’m going to share a similar surprise discovery, about Wedding Procession in the Tyrol by Wilhelm Ludwig Friedrich Riefstahl (German, 1827–1888).

Art Contemporary Education Spotlight Sessions

Spotlight Sessions: “Nobody’s Watching” by Klassik

Post author By Amy Kirschke
Post date March 31, 2022
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Man with headphones and a mic standing in front of Untitled Anxious Audience by Rashid Johnson — Local artist Klassik performing in front of *Untitled Anxious Audience* (detail), 2017, by Rashid Johnson (American, b. 1977). Ceramic tile, soap, and wax. 95 1/2 × 159 × 2 1/2 in. Purchase, with funds from Mark and Debbie Attanasio, Marianne and Sheldon Lubar, Joanne Murphy, the African American Art Alliance, and the Modern and Contemporary Art Deaccession Funds, M2017.60 © Rashid Johnson

The Milwaukee Art Museum is excited to introduce Spotlight Sessions, a virtual series featuring an artist or local luminary interpreting or responding to an artwork in the collection. This series captures the unique perspective an artist brings to either their own or another’s work of art, broadening the experience of a painting, sculpture, or other selected work. Over the next three years, six local and visiting artists will be featured in this series. Viewers will have a range of opportunities to learn about and engage with Spotlight Sessions, including on the website, through social media, and at in-person events.

Art Behind the Scenes Contemporary

A Living Collection: The Contemporary Art Galleries

Post author By Margaret Andera
Post date February 28, 2022
1 Comment on A Living Collection: The Contemporary Art Galleries

Three men preparing to hang an abstract work of art — Paul Jenkins (American, 1923 – 2012), *Phenomena 831 Broadway*, 1963. Acrylic on canvas. 111 × 69 in. (281.94 × 175.26 cm). Gift of Jane Bradley Pettit, M1975.187. © Estate of Paul Jenkins/Licensed by ADAGP, Paris/Artists Rights Society (ARS) New York

The Museum’s collection of more than 32,000 works of art spans from antiquity to the present and includes gifts and purchases dating from 1888 to today. There are the favorites that everyone looks forward to seeing with each visit, yet works come in and out and are frequently moved about. They rest (in the vault), travel to other institutions, and enter new social circles in the galleries, striking up new conversations. Each work of art has a “life” that makes the collection itself dynamic—one with many stories to share.

Art Behind the Scenes Collection Reflection Curatorial European

Questions of Provenance: Recent Discoveries: “Dance Under the Linden Tree” by Ludwig Knaus

Post author By Catherine Sawinski
Post date January 20, 2022
6 Comments on Questions of Provenance: Recent Discoveries: “Dance Under the Linden Tree” by Ludwig Knaus

Periodically in the past, the blog has featured a series of posts called “Questions of Provenance,” which discussed issues related to an artwork’s provenance, or its history of ownership. Over the next few months, this series will continue with monthly posts highlighting recent research that focuses on provenance.

The curatorial staff of the Milwaukee Art Museum are constantly researching the collection. Sometimes we request books and articles through interlibrary loan. Other times, we page through archival files either in person or online. And it’s not unusual to talk to colleagues in the field. But believe it or not, every once in a while, an important discovery is made by accident.

Tags European art, From the Collection