MAM Insider | Spring 2010

art in Bloom Four days only april 8–11

american Quilts SpriNg 2010

opens may 22

Raphael

The Woman with the Veil MARCH 27–JUNE 6, 2010

SpriNg 2010 on view 4 arT iN BlOOM April 8–11

8 raphaEl: ThE WOMaN WiTh ThE VEil Opens March 27

11 ThEaSTEr gaTES Opens April 16

12 aMEricaN QUilTS Opens May 22

14 STrEET SEEN Ends April 25

16 FrOM ThE cOllEcTiON

profiles

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happenings 19 20 22 24 26 28 30

KOhl’S arT gENEraTiON FaMily FUN

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Bal dU lac MaM aFTEr darK STrEET SEEN OpENiNgS May iS MEMBEr MONTh MUSEUM STOrE

admission All programs and events are free for Members (or with Museum admission for non-members) unless otherwise noted.

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Photography courtesy of Front Room Photography unless otherwise noted.

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Raphael (né Raphael Sanzio), La Donna Velata or La Velata (The Woman with the Veil), ca. 1516 (detail).

Collection of Istituti museale della Soprintendenza Speciale per il polo Museale Fiorentino.

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Dan Keegan portrait courtesy Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

director’s letter The Member magazine (filled cover to cover) is sent to you quarterly to inform you of the not-to-be-missed exhibitions and programs—and this edition is no exception! Even during these difficult economic times, we have many reasons to celebrate, including exciting things you may not be aware of going on behind the scenes: In December 2009, after a stringent review process, the Museum was awarded re-accreditation by the American Association of Museums (AAM). This widely recognized seal of approval brings national recognition to a museum for its commitment to excellence, accountability, high professional standards, and ongoing institutional improvement. We are proud to have held AAM accreditation since 1983, and that we continue to be a nationally and internationally esteemed art museum.

The American Institute for Conservation of historic and Artistic Works (AIC) 2010 Annual Meeting, which draws the largest concentration of art conservators in north America, will be held in Milwaukee May 11–14. We are honored to host the AIC’s opening reception and to showcase our Museum and our city to the 1,000+ attendees.

The Museum’s Collection, together with new technology, will inspire teachers in the months ahead: In March, the Museum collaborates with the Metropolitan Museum of Art in a series of seminars for teachers. This summer, hundreds of Wisconsin educators will engage with Web 2.0 tools for teaching, as the Museum hosts the Milwaukee Digital Media Conference.

Lastly, two Museum-produced exhibitions continue to travel through 2011: The Artistic Furniture of Charles Rohlfs (Carnegie Museum of Art, pittsburgh; huntington Museum & Library, San Marino; and Metropolitan Museum of Art) and Andy Warhol: The Last Decade (Museum of Modern Art, Fort Worth; Brooklyn Art Museum; and Baltimore Museum of Art).

Your membership supports every accomplishment of your Milwaukee Art Museum. please join me in celebrating all that the Museum means for our local community and the art world at large. Thank you for your support.

Dan Keegan, director

Warmest regards,

Daniel Keegan DireCTor w w w.mam.org

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Come and explore the stunning floral arrangements on view throughout three floors of the Museum’s Collection galleries.

The original creations are the work of top floral designers from the Milwaukee area, inspired by the Museum’s masterworks.

Art in Bloom is a perfect way to welcome spring while expanding and enriching your own floral and gardening knowledge in a variety of presentations and lectures.

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Don’t miss celebrity designers and master gardeners Ed Lyon, melinda myers, Bill Radler, and Kevin Ylvisaker, among others.

Visit www.mam.org/bloom for full details.

Presented by

Generous support provided by Garland Alliance

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on view | ART IN BLOOM four days only | april 8–11, 2010 | MILWAUKEE ART MUSEUM Programs and Events Museum admission (free for Members) is required for all events, Thursday through Sunday. Events requiring tickets and reservations are noted. You can order online, mail the completed form included here with a check payable to the Milwaukee Art Museum, or call 414-224-3803.

Advance ticket orders must be received by Friday, April 2.

Thursday, April 8 10 am–2 pm Installation of floral arrangements 5–9 pm | Opening Night $20 (includes Museum admission) free for members • • • • •

Collection galleries open with artworkinspired floral displays.

Professionally judged awards decided.

People’s Choice Awards voting begins.

Marketplace open with gifts and accessories for your home and garden.

Plein air artists painting floral masterpieces in Windhover Hall for evening’s silent auction.

Artist supplies provided by Utrecht Art Supplies.

5:30 pm Cocktails and Blooms Reception Hobnob with the design experts at this grand opening event! Enjoy complimentary hors d’oeuvres, a cash bar, and other surprises throughout the night!

6:15 pm | Lecture Melinda Myers: Year-Round Garden-tainment Explore ways to add seasonal interest to your home, with Milwaukee-based horticulture expert and author Melinda Myers.

Q&A and book signing to follow.

Sponsored by Kanavas Landscape Management, Inc.

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on view | street seen opening | jan 30–Apr 25, 2010 | baker/rowland galleries

Daily, Fri–Sun, April 9–11 10 am–5 pm • Collection galleries open with artworkinspired floral arrangements.

• People’s Choice Awards voting.

• Marketplace open with gifts and accessories for your home and garden.

• Kohl’s Art Generation Open Studio for the entire family, until 4 p.m.

10:15 am, noon, 2 pm Drop-in docent-led tours 11 am–4 pm Café Calatrava Garden Room in Windhover Hall Friday, April 9 11 am | Lecture Bill Radler & Helene Pizzi: Roses, Roses, and More Roses!

A Joyful Rose History “In Progress” $20/$15 members Take an in-depth look at roses with Radler, the hybridizer of the Knock Out® series of roses, and Pizzi, senior advisor for the Royal National Rose Society for Rome: gain a better understanding of rose breed development and see how roses are judged.

Barbara C. Strecker Memorial Lecture

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1 pm | Presentation Zannah Crowe: Perennial Plant Combinations $15/$10 members Reservations required; call 414-224-3803 Create visually striking gardens based on perennials that partner well together; landscape architect and twenty-five-year veteran of horticulture Zannah Crowe shows you how.

2:30 pm | Lecture Kevin Ylvisaker: Bloomtastic Designs $20/$15 members Join the international designer—design captain for two presidential inaugurations (George Bush Sr. and Bill Clinton) and judge for the 1997 Tournament of Roses Parade— for a real-time demonstration on how to create the latest floral designs.

Sponsored by Milwaukee Art Museum Garden Club

3:30 pm | Presentation Irwin Johnson: Popular Hostas $15/$10 members Reservations required; call 414-224-3803 Gain in-depth knowledge—from size variability to pest and disease control—on the most popular perennial sold in the United States, from a Master Judge of the American Hostas Society.

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on view | ART IN BLOOM four days only | april 8–11, 2010 | MILWAUKEE ART MUSEUM Saturday, April 10

Sunday, April 11

1 pm | Presentation Michael P. Gaffney: Special Occasion Centerpieces $15/$10 members Reservations required; call 414-224-3803 Learn how to create the tall vertical and classical modern English styles often seen in top designer magazines, with the owner of Milwaukee School of Flower Design.

1 pm | Presentation Marcia Carmichael: Beyond Bouquets: The Culinary Beauty of Herbs & Flowers $15/$10 members Reservations required; call 414-224-3803 Learn how to grow, harvest, and use lovely, fragrant, flavorful garden treasures in your kitchen creations, with the Historic Gardener at Old World Wisconsin.

1–4 pm Award-winning author/illustrator Lois Ehlert Kohl’s Art Generation Open Studio and book signing

1–4 pm Award-winning author/illustrator Lois Ehlert Kohl’s Art Generation Open Studio and book signing

2 pm Chamber Music from UWM Peck School of the Arts Bradley Galleries

2 pm Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra Quartet Bradley Galleries

2:30 pm | Lecture Ed Lyon: Made-in-the-Shade: The Perennial Plants $20/$15 members Discover why shade is “hot,” as the director of UW-Madison’s Allen Centennial Gardens introduces us to the plants that can provide beauty and interest all four seasons of the year.

2:30 pm | Lecture Andrea Bayer: Amore: Art and Love in Renaissance Italy See programs under Raphael: The Woman with the Veil, p. 10.

Sponsored by LandWorks

3:30 pm | Presentation Donna Krischan: Floral Photography $15/$10 members Reservations required; call 414-224-3803 Improve your garden and flower photos both technically and artistically with tips from the garden photographer and writer for Milwaukee Home and Fine Living magazine.

Raphael

The Woman with the Veil

on view | raphaEl: ThE WOMaN WiTh ThE VEil opening | March 27–jUNE 6, 2010 | KOSS gallEry

Scholars suggest that The Woman with the Veil is raphael’s personal counterpart to leonardo da Vinci’s conception of ideal beauty expressed in the Mona Lisa (1506).

Raphael (né Raphael Sanzio), La Donna Velata or La Velata (The Woman with the Veil), ca. 1516 (detail).

Collection of Istituti museale della Soprintendenza Speciale per il polo Museale Fiorentino.

One of the most celebrated artworks of the Italian renaissance is coming to the Milwaukee Art Museum! In a one-work masterpiece exhibition, the Museum will showcase raphael’s The Woman with the Veil (La Donna Velata), one of the greatest artworks of the Italian renaissance.

This single painting will be on loan from the Medici collection of the palazzo pitti, Florence, Italy, and is the result of more than a year of negotiations. raphael’s woman looks upon her viewers with disarming directness. her responsive gaze suggests that the professional, working relationship between artist and sitter has been breached. The hint of a smile in her eyes, the slight blush to her cheeks, and the hand clasped to her breast all convey a level of intimacy that demands your attention, at length.

In the late eighteenth century, the romance the work evokes became legend: it was believed that the woman depicted in this portrait and in other paintings had been a lover of raphael’s. The writings of renaissance historian giorgio Vasari (1511–1574) seemingly give credence to this tale; in them, Vasari suggests that raphael had been involved with a Sienese woman named Margherita Luti, and that the artist used her as a model in many of his most famous works.

Scholars suggest that The Woman with the Veil is raphael’s personal counterpart to Leonardo da Vinci’s conception of ideal beauty expressed in the Mona Lisa (1506). w w w.mam.org

Leonardo da Vinci, Mona Lisa, 1503–06. Louvre, paris

The composition and style similarly reflect those of Leonardo’s Lady with Ermine (1493), which was on view in Milwaukee in 2002.

A contemporary of Michelangelo and Leonardo, raphael (1483–1520), also known as raff aello Sanzio, was famed as a painter of altarpieces and portraits.

Among raphael’s highlights are the celebrated frescoes of the Stanze della Segnatura, the private papal chamber frescoes in the Vatican’s papal apartments.

Although raphael did not live long enough to complete the entire Stanze project, his

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on view | Raphael: The Woman with the Veil opening | March 27–June 6, 2010 | Koss Gallery

Raphael name has become virtually synonymous with the ideals of reason and harmony and the graceful artifice that these frescoes embody. Equally important in Raphael’s day were his portraits, whose freshness and immediacy belie the nearly five hundred years that have passed since their creation.

The Woman with the Veil is one of Raphael’s most beguiling portraits; it captivates with every fold of fabric, and each nuance of color. The many facets of the work inspire “slow looking,” which is facilitated by the exhibition itself—a one-work gallery experience modeled after the philosophies put forth by the slow movement. Enjoy.

This exhibition was made possible by the Foundation for Italian Art & Culture. The exhibition is organized by the Portland Art Museum, and is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.

Sponsored in Milwaukee by

Programs Gallery Talks (with curator) Tues, April 6 and May 4, 11, 18, 1:30 pm Foreign-Language Gallery Talks In French | Sat, April 17 and May 8, 1:30 pm In Italian | Sat, April 17 and May 1, 2:30 pm A Closer Look Thursdays, noon Slow looking involves extended viewing of one work of art. Explore a different aspect of this glorious masterpiece each week.

April 29 | Women in Portraiture with Laurie Winters, director of exhibitions

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The Woman with the Veil A Closer Look (continued) May 6 | Ideals of Beauty with Bill Wainwright, professor emeritus of philosophy, UWM May 13 | Costume with Mary Nowakowski, costume connoisseur Book Salons Saturdays, 10:30 am April 24 | Mona Lisa in Camelot

by Margaret Leslie Davis May 8 | The Ruby Ring by Diane Haeger RSVP: 414-224-3826 or amy.kirschke@mam.org

Lecture: The Art Museums of Florence: Medici Gifts and Treasures for the Future Sat, March 27, 1:30 pm Welcome Dr. Cristina Acidini, the cultural director of Florence, as she discusses the art and architecture of the city where Raphael worked.

RSVP for optional reception to follow ($20/person) at 414-224-3293.

Lecture: Amore: Art and Love in Renaissance Italy Sun, April 11, 2:30 pm Explore amore with Andrea Bayer, curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and of the critically acclaimed exhibition Art and Love in Renaissance Italy. A book signing of the exhibition catalogue (available from the Museum Store) will follow the lecture.

Offered in conjunction with Art in Bloom

The Art of Slow: A Symposium on the Slow Movement Sat, May 15, 10:30 am–3 pm Take an in-depth look at the slow movement—after whose advocacy of “slow looking” the Raphael exhibition is fashioned— with noted experts. Visit mam.org for a full list of participants.

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on view | ThEaSTEr gaTES opening | april 16–aUgUST 1, 2010 | dEcOraTiVE arTS gallEry

Theaster gates Dave Drake, Storage Jar, Lewis Miles pottery, 1858 (detail). Courtesy, Arthur goldberg; photography, gavin Ashworth.

gates is the first artist to reinterpret his work and to make it pertinent to a broader set of concerns about the place of labor and craft in present-day america.

In this exhibition, contemporary Chicago artist Theaster gates Jr. explores the history and legacy of Dave Drake. A slave in antebellum South Carolina, Drake produced stoneware pottery and famously adorned his pots with poetic couplets. Though historians and art historians have explored Drake’s career in detail, gates is the first artist to reinterpret his work and to make it pertinent to a broader set of concerns about the place of labor and craft in present-day America.

The exhibition’s provocative installation, titled To Speculate Darkly: Theaster Gates and Dave the Potter, features a two hundred-strong voice choir that engages the enigmatic, emotional works of poetry found on Drake’s pots. gates created the captivating sound piece with musicians from both Milwaukee and Chicago. gates further collaborated with local tradespeople to develop original ceramic works for the show.

Thus, the project, as intended, has brought together two very different groups of people in partnership, and promises to create lasting relationships across the city. w w w.mam.org

potter, musician, and performance artist, Theaster gates Jr. has earned national acclaim for his intelligent commentaries on race, the city, and the museum and was recently selected to participate in the 2010 Whitney Biennial.

Theaster gates is supported by a generous grant from the Joyce Foundation, which fosters the development of new works in dance, music, theater, and visual arts by artists of color. Additional support provided by the African American Art Alliance. The exhibition is curated by Ethan Lasser, curator at the Chipstone Foundation.

Exhibition Opening Fri, April 16, 5–11 pm The choir featured in the installation will perform live during the MAM After Dark event (see p. 24).

Lecture/performance: To Speculate Darkly

by Theaster Gates Thurs, April 29, 6:15 pm Sponsored by UW–Milwaukee’s Center for 21st Century Studies

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on view | aMEricaN QUilTS opening | May 22–SEpTEMBEr 6, 2010

american Quilts: Selections from the Winterthur collection The Milwaukee Art Museum is proud to present more than forty exquisite quilts whose fabric, design, and stitchery combine to provide an extraordinary visual experience and a wealth of new information about the early American cultural landscape (1760–1850). American Quilts is drawn from the unparalleled collection of American textiles and antiques at Winterthur Museum in Delaware and features a stunning whitework quilt that survives with its maker’s correspondence, as well as some of the finest examples of early American printed textiles and a vibrant Quaker starburst wedding quilt.

Through skillful needlework, graphic patterning, and an eye for color, American women transformed both common and exotic textiles into these singular works of art. One new England quilt demonstrates a frugal yet artistic re-use of a very common material—men’s wool breeches. In comparison, an isolated Maine quiltmaker created an extraordinary patchwork quilt that incorporates fabric from more than one hundred richly colored dress silks imported

from Europe and China ranging in date from the 1720s to the early 1800s. These scraps feature a kaleidoscope of designs from printed metallic dots on orange cotton velvet to hand-painted Asian flowers on silk, and illustrate that our global economy is not a modern phenomenon.

American Quilts explores how quilts were skillfully and lovingly made to commemorate the life-changing events of individuals, families, or entire communities.

It shows how quilt patterns could reflect current fashion, or how certain imagery could make strong political statements. The rare quilts on view in this exhibition were passed through generations and, in turn, have become beautiful repositories of history and memory that document women’s political, social, and cultural lives in the early American republic.

American Quilts is sponsored at the Milwaukee Art Museum by the Museum’s Friends of Art. The exhibition is organized by Winterthur Museum & Country Estate. The exhibition is curated by Linda Eaton of Winterthur Museum and organized at the Milwaukee Art Museum by Mel Buchanan, Liz Flaig, and Catherine Sawinski.

Martha Agry Vaughn, Pieced Quilt, ca. 1805 (detail). Winterthur Museum, 1957.48. Museum purchase. Image: Courtesy, Winterthur.

Rebecca Scattergood Savery, Pieced Quilt, 1827 (detail). Winterthur Museum, 1997.22. Museum purchase with funds provided by the estate of Mrs. Samuel pettit and additional funds by Mr. Samuel pettit in memory of his wife. Image: Courtesy, Winterthur.

members always see it First President’s Circle Preview Wed, may 19, 5:30–8:30 pm Member Preview Celebration Thurs, may 20, 5–9 pm | 6:15 pm Lecture Linda Eaton, exhibition curator and director of collections and senior curator of textiles, Winterthur Museum Lecture is ticketed; free tickets are distributed at 5 p.m. Appetizers/cash bar, beginning at 5 p.m. $20 non-members

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Member Preview Days Thurs, may 20, 10 am–5 pm Fri, may 21, 10 am–5 pm Member Exhibition Talk Fri, may 21, 1:30 pm Gallery Talk Tues, may 25, 1:30 pm Express Talk Thurs, may 27, noon Watch for additional Quilts programs in the summer edition of the MAM Insider.

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25 IN L GESTURE –1959 A IC G O L O H THE PSYC HOTOGRAPHY 1940 P AMERICAN

See more than 100 photographs in the first major exhibition of street photography from this era in nearly 20 years. refuting the common claim that photojournalism was the only significant photographic activity at the time, Street Seen: The Psychological Gesture in American Photography, 1940– 1959 uncovers a crucial time in American art, when global media was in its adolescence and photography was just beginning to gain recognition in the art world. The exhibition focuses on the work of six

photographers (Lisette Model, Louis Faurer, Ted Croner, Saul Leiter, William Klein, and robert Frank) who broke the rules of conventional photographic technique to create emotionally engaging photographs.

Street Seen is made possible by our lead sponsor, the Richard and Ethel Herzfeld Foundation.

Generous additional support provided by the National Endowment for the Arts as part of American Masterpieces: Three Centuries of Artistic Genius, the MetLife Foundation, and the Milwaukee Art Museum’s Photography Council.

“This work is perhaps as relevant and affecting now as then.”

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Lisette Model, 42nd Street from the Sixth Avenue Subway, New York, 1940–41. national gallery of Art, 1998.137.1

PR THROUGH A

on view | STrEET SEEN closing | april 25, 2010 | BaKEr/rOWlaNd gallEriES

programs For a complete listing of programs and registration* information, visit www.mam.org/streetseen.

Gallery Talks Tuesdays, 1:30 pm march 2 | Aftershocks of War march 30 | photography and Abstract Expressionism April 20 | The Shifting Social Landscape

Fourth Annual Conservation Seminar: Photography Sat, April 17, 10:30 am–3 pm Sign up for this day of informative talks and demonstrations on caring for historic photographs, including lunch with the presenters. *Registration required.

30-Minute Express Talks Every Thurs, march 4–April 22, noon

Presented by American Arts Society and Photography Council

Film Thurs, march 11, 6:15 pm Double Indemnity (1944), followed by a discussion facilitated by uW–Milwaukee associate professor Vicki Callahan

Artist Talk: Philip Lorca-diCorcia Thurs, April 22, 6:15 pm Contemporary photographer philip LorcadiCorcia, in conversation with Street Seen curator Lisa hostetler, discusses street photography, its challenges and rewards, and how it has changed since the 1950s.

Saturdays, 2 pm march 6 | Killer’s Kiss (1955) march 13 | The Third Man (1949) march 20 | L.A. Confidential (1997)

Sponsored by Contemporary Art Society and Photography Council

Book Salon: Lee Miller: A Life

by Carolyn Burke Sat, march 13, 10:30 am

Audio Tour With exhibition curator Lisa hostetler and new York photographer Joel Meyerowitz $6/$4 Member

RSVP: 414-224-3826 or amy.kirschke@mam.org

FEATURING PHOTOGRAPHS BY

Ted Croner | Louis Faurer | Robert Frank

a dissertation on Louis Faurer, and trained in the Department of

William Klein | Saul Leiter | Lisette Model

Photographs at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. A specialist on modern and contemporary photography, she has written and

WITH ADDITIONAL PHOTOGRAPHS BY

lectured on Louis Faurer, Saul Leiter, photographic portraiture,

Margaret Bourke-White | Alexey Brodovitch | Rudy Burckhardt

and polar photography from the nineteenth century to the present,

Robert Capa | Henri Cartier-Bresson | Don Donaghy | Walker Evans

among other topics. Her curatorial collaborations with contemporary artists include the exhibition and publication Unmasked &

Anonymous: Shimon & Lindemann Consider Portraiture (2008).

Street Seen

Street Seen The Psychological Gesture in American Photography, 1940–1959

Lisa Hostetler is Curator of Photographs at the Milwaukee Art

Museum. She earned her doctorate from Princeton University with

Hostetler

Symposium: Breaking the Rules: American Photography at Mid-Century Thurs, march 4, 4–8 pm Join three leading voices in photography— Ann Thomas, national gallery of Canada; Sarah greenough, national gallery of Art; and Keith Davis, nelson-Atkins Museum— and the Museum’s Curator of photographs Lisa hostetler for an engaging evening. *Registration required.

Sid Grossman | John Gutmann | Dave Heath | Leon Levinstein Helen Levitt | Roger Mayne | Marvin Newman | Frank Paulin W. Eugene Smith | David Vestal | Weegee

Published by the Milwaukee Art Museum and DelMonico Books·Prestel 122 full-color illustrations

Street Seen

The Psychological Gesture in American Photography, 1940–1959 Lisa Hostetler This in-depth and generously illustrated look at six photographers prominent during and immediately following World War II refutes

Exhibition Catalogue

the common claim that photojournalism was the only significant

photographic activity at the time. Street Seen uncovers what was a unique and pivotal moment in American photographic history, broadening our understanding of photography in the middle of the twentieth century, when global media was in adolescence and photography was just beginning to gain purchase in the contemporary art world.

The Second World War and its aftermath ushered in a new era of

artistic expression. Abstract Expressionism, film noir, Beat poetry,

and the New Journalism emerged in response to the war’s shocking realities, which were increasingly depicted in the mass media

through photographs. Creative photographers broke the rules of

Available in the Museum Store and at www.mam.org/store

conventional photographic technique to evoke personal experience in an increasingly anonymous world. Street Seen, a companion

volume to an exhibition, highlights six photographers whose imagery encapsulates the period’s most salient aesthetic achievements.

Lisette Model’s unflinching look at the cacophony of the urban

environment; Louis Faurer’s empathic portraits of unglamorous

eccentrics in Times Square; Ted Croner’s haunting night images;

Saul Leiter’s painterly glimpses of elusive moments; William Klein’s

graphic, confrontational style; and Robert Frank’s documentation of

American ideals gone awry—these and other beautifully reproduced photographs communicate the emotional resonance of everyday life in postwar America.

An essay by Lisa Hostetler explores the artistic revolution that took place after the war and reveals the principles of spontaneity and

subjective interpretation that guided these photographers as they sought to make sense of a new social landscape. In embracing

photography as an “act of living”—an exploration of identity rather

208 pages hardcover: $60/$54 Member

than a tool for telling a story—they create imagery with a perceivable link between form and feeling, manifesting what is termed “the

Reception sponsored by the Photography Council.

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Milwaukee Art Museum DelMonico Books Prestel

ISBN 978-3-7913-5034-9

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psychological gesture” of mid-century American life. A timeline, brief biographies, and a bibliography are also included in this valuable compilation of the mid-century’s most influential photography.

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“Glass creates a tangible third dimension, capturing the painting’s polished quality. Its transparency suggests an ideal form, the essence of an object.”

—Beth Lipman

From the Collection The Milwaukee Art Museum recently acquired this ambitious sculpture—Laid Table (Still Life with Metal Pitcher)—that overflows with luscious fruit, towering vases, and flowers, all rendered in clear glass. But look closely when you visit: the bouquet has wilted, wine has spilled, chalices are smashed, and snails have emerged to eat the decay. What remains of a once elaborate party is rotting, abandoned, and ghostly in glass.

The objects within a still life—from floral blooms to insects—are all embedded with symbolism. A burning candle, skull, or watch, for example, signifies the passage of life. Here, there is the added delicacy of the glass, revealing the precariousness between prosperity and inevitable decay.

In a traditional painted still life, a variety of brush techniques create the illusion of peach fuzz or a reflection on a table. In 16

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this glass still life, the artist Beth Lipman (American, b. 1971) similarly utilized a variety of craft techniques to create her illusion: the glass is hand blown, cast in molds, or sculpted in the molten state. Lipman created Laid Table in 2007 in her studio in Sheboygan Falls, Wisconsin, and has a similar work on view in the Renwick Gallery at the Smithsonian.

Like the centuries-old still-life painting tradition that is her inspiration, Lipman’s glass seduces with the sensuality of earthly bounty, while drawing attention to the transience of such pleasures. Though Laid Table reminds us of our own mortality, its sparkling beauty illuminates the need to savor life’s treasures, however fleeting. As with glass, life’s frailty gives it value.

See this work in the Glass and Studio Craft Gallery, Main Level.

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Beth Lipman, Laid Table (Still Life with Metal Pitcher), 2007. Purchase, Jill and Jack Pelisek Endowment, Jack Pelisek Funds, and various donors by exchange. Photo by John R. Glembin.

profiles | members matter

Jonas Wittke Jonas Wittke has challenged Museum Members with his crosswords since the first edition of the quarterly MAM Insider in fall 2008. A seasoned puzzler, Wittke has had over 500 word games published since he made his first contribution to the popular pastime in 2005—on a dare! “I suggested to some friends at the UWM Post that a weekly crossword puzzle might attract more readers. They said, ‘OK. Write one.’ I’ve been writing them ever since.”

Day Job: Community Relations Manager Favorite Artwork in the Collection: The Street by Romare Bearden Museum Employee Since: 2008

Do you produce crosswords for other publications?

I write a variety of puzzles for the UWM Post, including “Word Search and Rescue”; I produce a separate version of this puzzle for the Shepherd Express as well. The MAM Insider crossword is fun to write because of the challenge of having it relate to Museum programming.

What is your process?

American crosswords typically have two or more “theme entries,” which must appear symmetrically in the puzzle grid. So, for example, in last spring’s MAM Insider for Art in Bloom, since I used VINCENTVANGOURD as an entry, I needed another relevant 15-letter phrase: LEONARDODAVINCA. I design the grid next, filling in the rest of the words, starting over a dozen times.

The clues come last.

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Is it hard to develop a crossword?

Besides fitting a bunch of words together, the hardest part is appealing to a wide audience. The clues and entries should be entertaining but not too esoteric. I’m thrilled when I write a puzzle that contains every letter of the alphabet (known as a pangram). But the average solver would never notice this—or likely even care. For the record, I am not incredibly adept at solving crossword puzzles. If you regularly finish Saturday puzzles in the New York Times, you have me beat.

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profiles | members matter

Jane Fee When Jane Fee joined the Museum’s docent program, she didn’t have teaching experience and public speaking was definitely out of her comfort zone. But the “empty nest” at home and her desire for a more challenging volunteer opportunity were powerful motivators. Jane soon discovered her inner “performance artist” and, now in her eighth year as a docent, encourages anyone considering the program to “Go for it!”

How did you prepare to be a Museum educator?

Docents receive excellent training—in the history of art, on the Museum’s Collection, and on how to give a tour. We have continuing education lectures every Thursday, and opportunities to attend workshops at the Chipstone Foundation and to tour museums and private collections around the world.

I went to a workshop at the Art Institute of Chicago that was truly transformative.

How does leading an adult group differ from a student group?

Every tour is a bit different and surprising— you have to be flexible. Adult groups are more interested in information about the artist and the artwork. With children, you have to ask questions to get them involved in looking at and talking about a work.

Last year I had a group of first graders for a highlights tour, and they were fascinated with the Biedermeier furniture. Because of their obvious interest, I ended up doing a “furniture tour.”

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Chair, Docent Council, Milwaukee Art Museum Favorite Artwork in the Collection: Joseph Anton Koch’s Landscape with Ruth and Boaz Docent Since: 2002

When you visit the Museum on your own, what do you like to do?

I spend time looking at something I haven’t studied before, but I also visit an old favorite. When the Museum was hosting Leonardo da Vinci and the Splendors of Poland, I used to drop in twice a week to see my favorites—even if it was for only a quick walk-through!

For more information about becoming a docent, contact Amy Kirschke at 414-224-3826 or amy.kirschke@mam.org.

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happenings | Programs + Events

Visit the Kohl’s Art Generation website at www.mam.org/artgeneration.

Weekend Family Programs Each weekend, Story Time in the Galleries, Sketching in the Galleries, and the Kohl’s Art Generation Studio provide new opportunities to explore the art in the Museum’s Collection and exhibitions. Families can drop in for five minutes or stay all day.

SATURDAYS Story Time in the Galleries 10:30 am Come hear a different story each Saturday that relates to a work of art in the Museum, and then create your own story drawing to take home.

Sketching in the Galleries 1–3 pm Try your hand at sketching from works in a different gallery each week.

March

April

May

6 Photography 13 Portraits 20 Animals 27 Bradley Collection

3 Dogs 10 Flowers 17 Knights 24 American Art

1 Portraits 8 Nature 15 Landscape 22 Color 29 Animals

SUNDAYS Kohl’s Art Generation Open Studio 10 am–4 pm Swing by anytime and explore different art materials and techniques used to create works in the Museum’s galleries. Each month features a different theme; each week, a new opportunity to explore that theme through art.

March 7, 14, 21, 28 My Point of View April 4, 11, 18, 25 The Art of Nature May 2, 9, 23, 30 Portraits Extended hours for spring break!

April 6–10, 10 am–4 pm

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happenings | prOgraMS + EVENTS

Family Fun For a complete listing of programs and up-to-the-minute event details, visit www.mam.org.

summer art Camps savE thE datEs! Drawing and Printmaking Art Camp Tues–Fri, June 22–25 Ages 6–10: 10:30 Am–12:30 pm Ages 11–15: 1:30–4:30 pm Painting Art Camp Tues–Fri, June 29–July 2 Ages 6–10: 10:30 Am–12:30 pm Ages 11–15: 1:30–4:30 pm Art and Music Camp Tues–Fri, July 6–9 Entering grades 1–4 9 Am–4:15 pm

Art in 3D Camp Tues–Fri, July 13–16 Ages 6–10: 10:30 Am–12:30 pm Ages 11–15: 1:30–4:30 pm Sampler Art Camp I Tues–Fri, July 20–23 Ages 6–10: 10:30 Am–12:30 pm Ages 11–15: 1:30–4:30 pm Sampler Art Camp II Tues–Fri, July 27–30 Ages 6–10: 10:30 Am–12:30 pm Ages 11–15: 1:30–4:30 pm

dance Performance Where the Wild Things Are Fri, march 12, 1:30 pm gather in Windhover hall for this special performance by Danceworks performance Company, inspired by the wild beasts in Maurice Sendak’s classic tale and set to a score by randall Woolf. Kids and parents alike will enjoy it! Afterwards, discover the animals in artworks throughout the Museum’s Collection galleries.

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Art of Nature Camp Tues–Fri, August 3–6 Ages 6–10: 10:30 Am–12:30 pm Ages 11–15: 1:30–4:30 pm

registration is easy!

Call 414-224-3803.

As always, Members receive discounts on classes. gift certificates and scholarships are also available.

happenings | prOgraMS + EVENTS

Target Family Sundays: making pots Sing Sun, may 16, 10 am–4 pm Throw pots and make them sing through poetry and performance. Don’t miss the captivating sounds of contemporary Chicago artist Theaster gates Jr. and area youth choirs at this celebration of community inspired by the Theaster Gates exhibition (see p. 11).

Sponsored by Additional support provided by Assurant Health.

Images courtesy of Theaster gates

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happenings | programs + events bal du lac | April 24, 2010 | 7:30 pm–1 AM

S A V E

T H E

D A T E

51st annual

BALDULAC Saturday, April 24, 2010 7:30 pm–1 am Milwaukee Art Museum

Everyone is still raving about last year’s sold-out gala. Don’t miss the chance to see what we have in store for the 2010 event!

your hosts Gail Lione and Barry Grossman Elizabeth and Tom Long Caran and Joel Quadracci Jami and Bruce Ross Experience for yourself why the Bal du Lac is still considered one of the granddaddies of Milwaukee’s galas…and once again, one of the hottest events on the social circuit! Don’t miss it!

Tickets are $300/person Corporate tables are available. Call 414-224-3856 to determine which benefit level will best meet your needs.

Presented by the Milwaukee Art Museum’s Friends of Art to benefit the Museum’s Art Acquisition and Exhibition Fund

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happenings | programs + events NORTHWESTERN MUTUAL FOUNDATION PRESENTS

MAM After Dark Spring Edition—Previews Galore!

Fridays, March 12, April 16, and May 21 5 pm–midnight The Museum once again teams up with MIAD to deliver another memorable MAM After Dark event in early March. View collaborative works by first-year MIAD students and established, Milwaukee-based artists. Prepare for the spring thaw as you design season-specific creations at the DIY Studio, a drop-in, hands-on art creation station.

The April event affords you not only the first look at the provocative installation work To Speculate Darkly: Theaster Gates and Dave the Potter by Chicago-based artist Theaster Gates, but also the opportunity to see a live performance by the choir whose vocals are featured in the exhibition. Stop by for cocktails, snacks, and an overall artfilled Gallery Night with friends!

Show off your spring fashions at the Fashion Photo Booth and appear on the Museum’s Flickr page—and possibly even in an upcoming ad.

In May, MAM After Dark uncovers American Quilts: Selections from the Winterthur Collection, the Museum’s summer feature exhibition. Be among the first to experience these singular works of art—after hours, no less—and cozy up to the music of DJ Madhatter from Radio Milwaukee.

Admission

Free for Museum Members $12 at the door/$6 in advance at www.mam.org/afterdark

SPONSORED BY

MAY EVENING SPONSOR

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happenings | prOgraMS + EVENTS

happenings | programs + events

Street Seen

President’s Circle Preview January 27, 2010

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happenings | programs + events

Street Seen

Member Preview Celebration January 28, 2010

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happenings | member extras

Member Extras MAY IS MEMBER MONTH! Enjoy these added benefits, designed to thank you for your support. Membership Hotline: 414-224-3284

Member Trip to Chicago Fri, April 30, 8 am–7 pm Kick off Member month with a day at the annual art event Artropolis in Chicago. Explore contemporary and modern art at Art Chicago, emerging art at NEXT, and the world’s top antiques at the International Antiques Fair. The trip is open to Art Advocate level ($150) Members and Museum Support Group members at any level for $50 per person (includes coach bus and admission). Family, Dual, or Individual Members can upgrade to the Art Advocate level and go free with a guest!

Call the Membership Hotline today at 414-224-3284.

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Image courtesy of Artropolis

Coffee With A Conscience in Windhover Hall will open at 8 a.m., selling coffee, juices, and pastries.

happenings | MEMBEr ExTraS

Share the Wealth—Enroll a Friend receive an exclusive Woodgatherer tote bag when you bring a friend (who will also receive a bag) to the Museum to become a Member! Offer only available on-site, while supplies last.

Member Swap Day with Betty Brinn Children’s Museum and Discovery World Sun, may 16, 10 am–5 pm Enjoy three times the fun: at the Museum with Target Family Sundays (see p. 21), Betty Brinn, and Discovery World. As a Museum Member, you get in free to all three—but first you must visit the Museum’s Admission Desk to receive your all-access wristband! no advance registration required.

Treat Yourself and Enjoy Special Discounts* Every Day in May • Café Calatrava present your membership card for delectable dining at 25% off.

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Coffee With A Conscience Take a break with 25% off coffee and specialty drinks.

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museum Store Enjoy Double Discounts in the store Thursday–Sunday, May 13–16. *Discounts cannot be combined with any other offers.

Annual Meeting Thurs, may 20, 3:30 pm Attend this year’s Annual Meeting as new leaders are voted in and volunteers are honored. reception to follow. rSVp by Wednesday, May 12, to Sara Stum at 414-224-3248 or sara.stum@mam.org.

Save 20% on the purchase of family memberships at Discovery World and Betty Brinn today only.

Enjoy the perks of membership, all year long!

Check the calendar for all the gallery talks, events, and other programs that you enjoy free—year-round!—as a Member. w w w.mam.org

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museum store | SMarT ShOppiNg

From Street Seen to the home Scene Silk Scarves Channel a film noir femme fatale in a 100% silk crepe scarf. $60/$54 Member

Hostess Aprons heirloom-quality aprons have retro-chic vintage styling for today’s modern woman. $36–$42/$32.40–$37.80 Member

Hotcakes Acrylic Bracelet Inspired by vintage Bakelite, this bracelet has a uniquely modern edge. $52/$46.80 Member

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museum store | ShOp ThE ONliNE STOrE aT www.mam.org/store

Noir Handbags repurposed noir paperback titles give character to these striking handbags. $68/$61.20 Member

Vintage Tumblers Dress up your dinner table with a set of four glass tumblers featuring distinctly different goblet motifs. $25/$22.50 Member

Tix Toaster Celebrated Italian architect and designer Luca Trazzi’s sleek toaster also makes perfect panini! $170/$153 Member

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four days only | april 8–11, 2010

GARDEN CLUB