Categories
Art Behind the Scenes Collection Curatorial

The Curators’ Game: Collection Rotation

Open sea under a gray and blue sky
Milwaukee Art Museum Purchase, Richard and Ethel Herzfeld Foundation Acquisition Fund M2001.154 Photo by John R. Glembin
Open sea under a gray and blue sky
Milwaukee Art Museum Purchase, Richard and Ethel Herzfeld Foundation Acquisition Fund M2001.154. Photo by John R. Glembin

What happens when a group of curators following the Safer at Home order plays a game with works from the Museum’s collection? You’re about to find out.

Categories
Art Exhibitions Modern

A Modern Vision and a Story of Collecting

Fruit, flowers, and a white cloth on top of a wooden table
Paul Cézanne, Ginger Pot with Pomegranate and Pears, 1893 (detail). Oil on canvas. 18 1/4 × 21 7/8 in. The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC. Gift of Gifford Phillips in memory of his father, James Laughlin Phillips, 1939.
Fruit, flowers, and a white cloth on top of a wooden table
Paul Cézanne, Ginger Pot with Pomegranate and Pears, 1893. Oil on canvas. 18 1/4 × 21 7/8 in. The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC. Gift of Gifford Phillips in memory of his father, James Laughlin Phillips, 1939.

The works by Degas, van Gogh, Bonnard, Modigliani, and others on view in the Modern Vision exhibition are from The Phillips Collection and reflect the lifelong collecting efforts of Duncan Phillips, who developed an interest in art at an early age. A five-part podcast on collectors and collecting produced in conjunction with the exhibition reveals that Phillips worked in concert with his wife, Marjorie, herself an artist, whom he met shortly before he opened his museum. She became the deputy director of the museum and, after Duncan’s death, went on to become its director.

Categories
Art Art News

Announcing the Museum’s Strategic Direction

Young children dancing around in Windhover Hall

This is your art museum. And I am delighted and proud to share with you today that we have set course on a direction that allows us to respond to our changing times and makes it possible for you, your friends, family—all people—to see yourselves at the Museum and better understand your world through the art we hold in public trust for you.

Categories
Art Art News

Remembering Dr. Alfred Bader

Older man sitting in his office surrounded by books and art
Photo of Dr. Alfred Bader by David Bader Photography

There is never a good time to write about the loss of a friend. And though I knew him for only a short time, Dr. Alfred Bader was a friend to us all in the Milwaukee Art Museum family. News of his passing, on December 23, brought a weighted pause to the celebrations this past holiday season. Articles in the Journal Sentinel and Business Journal cover the biography and accomplishments of Dr. Bader—chemist, businessman, and philanthropist—a man who helped build Milwaukee’s industry and enrich its culture. It is as an avid collector and supporter of art that Dr. Bader will forever be honored at the Museum.