Tag: Modern Rebels

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Art Collection Curatorial Modern

From the Collection: Pablo Picasso’s The Cock of the Liberation

Colorful rooster made of different shapes
Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881–1973), The Cock of the Liberation (Le Coq de la Liberation), 1944 (detail). Oil on canvas. 39 1/2 × 31 3/4 in. (100.33 × 80.65 cm). Gift of Mrs. Harry Lynde Bradley M1959.372. Photo credit: Larry Sanders. © 2019 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Colorful rooster made of different shapes
Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881–1973), The Cock of the Liberation (Le Coq de la Liberation), 1944. Oil on canvas. 39 1/2 × 31 3/4 in. (100.33 × 80.65 cm). Gift of Mrs. Harry Lynde Bradley M1959.372. Photo credit: Larry Sanders. © 2019 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Many of the artists featured in the special exhibition Van Gogh to Pollock: Modern Rebels, Masterworks from the Albright-Knox Art Gallery are also represented in the collection of the Milwaukee Art Museum. This is the fifth in a series of blog posts that will highlight Milwaukee’s artworks during the run of the exhibition.

Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881–1973) is not usually considered a political artist.  His favorite artistic subjects were still-lifes, portraits, harlequins, and other seemingly uncontroversial images.

But in some key instances, world events were an important influence on him.  We don’t have to look far to find an example: the Milwaukee Art Museum’s The Cock of the Liberation (Le Coq de la Liberation), painted by Picasso in 1944.

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Art Collection Curatorial European Prints and Drawings

From the Collection–Vegetable Market at Pontoise by Camille Pissarro

Many of the artists featured in the special exhibition Van Gogh to Pollock: Modern Rebels, Masterworks from the Albright-Knox Art Gallery are also represented in the collection of the Milwaukee Art Museum. This is the fourth in a series of blog posts that will highlight Milwaukee’s artworks during the run of the exhibition.

Camille Pissarro (French, 1830–1903), Vegetable Market at Pontoise, 1891. Etching, drypoint, and aquatint. Milwaukee Art Museum, Maurice and Esther Leah Ritz Collection M2004.283. Photo credit: Efraim Lev-er.
Camille Pissarro (French, 1830–1903), Vegetable Market at Pontoise, 1891. Etching, drypoint, and aquatint. Milwaukee Art Museum, Maurice and Esther Leah Ritz Collection M2004.283. Photo credit: Efraim Lev-er.

A bustling market welcomes the viewer of Impressionist artist Camille Pissarro’s Vegetable Market at Pontoise. We can almost hear the commotion of the rural village where he lived for some time.

Playing the part of both voyeur and companion, we stand behind a woman selling her vegetables. A young woman stops in front of us, deliberating whether or not she would like to buy what is gently offered to her. We can nearly hear their more quiet conversation in the midst of the lively square where all individuals congregate without segregation of rank. There are men with top hats conversing and women in fine dresses strolling, while others are clearly from a more modest upbringing.

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Art Curatorial

Matisse versus Picasso

Matisse's colorful "La Musique" is featured in the exhibition Van Gogh to Pollock: Modern Rebels. Come check it out! Photo by the author.
Matisse’s colorful “La Musique” is featured in the exhibition Van Gogh to Pollock: Modern Rebels. Come check it out! Photo by the author.

“If I were not making the paintings I make, I would paint like Matisse,” Pablo Picasso once said of his rival and dear friend, Henri Matisse. Both artists are featured in the Milwaukee Art Museum’s latest exhibition, Van Gogh to Pollock: Modern Rebels.

In the early twentieth century, the relationship between Picasso and Matisse had developed out of a nature of competitiveness and grew to be one of mutual admiration—at times. When Picasso came onto the European modern art scene, Matisse, being eleven years older, had already established himself as a rebel in that world. After meeting in 1906 at the Parisian salon of famous writer Gertrude Stein, the two artists would continuously look to one another’s work to both pose criticism and find inspiration.

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Art Exhibitions

Happy Birthday, Andy Warhol!

Andy Warhol's 100 Cans in the exhibition Van Gogh to Pollock: Modern Rebels, Masterworks from the Albright-Knox Art Gallery. Photo by the author.
Andy Warhol’s 100 Cans in the exhibition Van Gogh to Pollock: Modern Rebels, Masterworks from the Albright-Knox Art Gallery. Photo by the author.

Today we celebrate the birthday of famous American pop artist Andy Warhol. The Milwaukee Art Museum’s permanent collection boasts a number of works by Warhol, but one of his most iconic pieces is featured in the Museum’s current temporary exhibition, Van Gogh to Pollock: Modern Rebels. The piece, titled 100 Cans, was completed in 1962.

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Art Exhibitions

Happy Birthday, Frida Kahlo!

Frida Kahlo's "Self-Portrait with Monkey" can be seen displayed in "Van Gogh to Pollock: Modern Rebels," at MAM through September 20th
Frida Kahlo’s “Self-Portrait with Monkey” can be seen displayed in “Van Gogh to Pollock: Modern Rebels,” at MAM through September 20th

From June 18 to September 20, the Milwaukee Art Museum is proud to temporarily house works by some of the most famous artists in history in an exhibition titled Van Gogh to Pollock: Modern Rebels. One such rebel artist, whose painting Self-Portrait with Monkey is displayed in this extraordinary exhibition, is Frida Kahlo. In honor of her 108th birthday on July 6, we celebrate the life and mind of this strong woman and creative artist.

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Art Collection Curatorial European Modern

From the Collection: Wassily Kandinsky’s Fragment I for Composition VII

Wassily Kandinsky (Russian, 1866–1944), Fragment I for Composition VII (Center), 1913. Oil on canvas. Milwaukee Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. Harry Lynde Bradley M1958.12. Photo credit by Larry Sanders.
Wassily Kandinsky (Russian, 1866–1944), Fragment I for Composition VII (Center), 1913 (detail). Oil on canvas. Milwaukee Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. Harry Lynde Bradley M1958.12. Photo credit by Larry Sanders.

Many of the artists featured in the special exhibition Van Gogh to Pollock: Modern Rebels, Masterworks from the Albright-Knox Art Gallery are also represented in the collection of the Milwaukee Art Museum. This is the second in a series of blog posts that will highlight Milwaukee’s artworks during the run of the exhibition.

Only one artwork from the Milwaukee Art Museum’s own collection is displayed as part of the newly-opened Modern Rebels exhibition: Wassily Kandinsky’s Fragment I for Composition VII. When one reads the title of the equally vibrant artwork from the Albright-Knox Gallery hung next to it, the reason for its inclusion becomes instantly clear.

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Art Collection Curatorial Modern

From the Collection: Theseus by Jacques Lipchitz

Black sculpture of a man grabbing a minotaur by the horns
Jacques Lipchitz (French, b. Lithuania, 1891–1973, active in the United States), Theseus, 1942 (detail). Hollow bronze cast. height: 23 3/4 in. (60.33 cm). Milwaukee Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. William D. Vogel M1956.80. Photo credit by Larry Sanders. © Estate of Jacques Lipchitz, all rights reserved.
Black sculpture of a man grabbing a minotaur by the horns
Jacques Lipchitz (French, b. Lithuania, 1891–1973, active in the United States), Theseus, 1942. Hollow bronze cast. height: 23 3/4 in. (60.33 cm). Milwaukee Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. William D. Vogel M1956.80. Photo credit by Larry Sanders. © Estate of Jacques Lipchitz, all rights reserved.

Many of the artists featured in the special exhibition Van Gogh to Pollock: Modern Rebels, Masterworks from the Albright-Knox Art Gallery are also represented in the collection of the Milwaukee Art Museum. This is the first in a series of blog posts that will highlight Milwaukee’s artworks during the run of the exhibition.

Knowledge of classical mythology is one of those subjects that will always help the student of art history, no matter what period you study. Over the last few years, I have explored mythological subjects in the Milwaukee Art Museum’s collection represented in ancient Greek hydriae; Baroque decorative arts and painting; and nineteenth century German ceramics.

Modern art is no exception. We have to look no further than the sculptures of Jacques Lipchitz (1891–1973).

Jacques Lipchitz was a Jewish artist from France who was born in Lithuania. He was classically trained in Paris, although he soon worked in a cubist style, such as Sailor with Guitar in the collection of the Albright-Knox Art Gallery.

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