MAM insider | winter 0809

www.mam.org | winter 2008–09 | | 1

winter 2008–09

Act/reactends Jan 11

Catesby, Audubonopens Dec 18

opening | feb 7–Apr 26, 2009

2 | | winter 2008–09 | www.mam.org

on view 4 JAn Lievens Opening Feb 7, 2009

9 from the CoLLeCtion Ongoing

10 ACt/reACt Closing Jan 11, 2009

12 CAtesby, Audubon Opening Dec 18, 2008

14 drAwn to nAture Opening Dec 4, 2008

15 sChoLAstiC Art AwArds Opening Jan 31, 2009

16 remAins Opening Feb 12, 2009

profiles 17 brent gohde

18 dr. ALfred bAder

19 the roberts fAmiLy

happenings 20 hoLidAy hAppenings

22 fAmiLy fun

24 mAm After dArk

26 AdditionAL gALLery tALks

26 sundAy brunCh

27 sAy “i do” At the museum

28 member extrAs

29 whAt’s up onLine

30 museum store

event ICOn Key

Free for Members.

By reservation only. Call 414-224-3200 for details.

Free with general admission.

Fee charged. Member discounts may apply.

Free for general public.

Exhibition ticket required. Free for Members with allotted tickets.

winter 2008–09

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Stay in the knowSign up for weekly

eNews updates, mam.org/newsletter

your promising giftplease give to the Annual Campaign

As we approach the New Year, I write to thank you for your investment in the Milwaukee Art Museum. Your support makes a difference for the Museum and the community it serves. And in this difficult economic climate, your mem-bership makes an even greater difference. Continued loyal patronage is the only way the next generation will have the opportunity to learn to see their world through the history of visual creativity presented within these walls.

Renewed support also enables you, your family and friends to share this special place through exhibitions and programs that inspire, educate, and entertain. It enables you to be an actual part of the art in exhibitions such as Act/React. It also makes possible exhibitions like the upcoming Jan Lievens exhibition, which looks back four hundred years to seventeenth-century Holland through the works of one of the greatest Dutch masters, better known in his day than Rembrandt himself, and now finally stepping out of his shadow.

In a September New Yorker article, former Milwaukee Art Museum direc-tor Russell Bowman said that architect Santiago Calatrava “took our Museum to levels we never imagined.” Today, those “levels” include international acclaim for both our Museum and our city, and delighting our visitors with memorable experiences in a building that rivals any in the world. I would add that your support has taken us to levels we never imagined. And today, visitors from around the globe also delight in our world-class collection of art and special exhibitions.

Here are three solid support opportunities I hope you will consider:• Renew and even upgrade your Milwaukee Art Museum membership.• Consider a year-end contribution to the Annual Fund to sustain education

and exhibition programs, and all that keeps this Museum strong. • Guarantee a wonderful 2009 for someone special with a gift membership

that brings joy and delight all year long.Your investment in the Museum is a personal one, but your choice to

become a Member of the Museum affects an entire community—now and for generations to come. Whatever level of membership you choose, I speak for the entire Museum community in thanking you for your support of the Milwaukee Art Museum.

My very best wishes for the holidays and the New Year.

Daniel KeeganDIRECTOR

Giving Is Easy! Call the Member Hotline at 414- 224-3284 or visit us online at www.mam.org/donate.

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“this unveiling of a little-known dutch master just may be the show of the year.” —mary Louise schumacher, milwaukee Journal sentinel

on view | feAture exhibition

4 | | winter 2008


History has not been kind to Jan Lievens (1607–1674). A child prodigy—whose talent was prized by connoisseurs and collectors in his native Leiden during his teenage years, whose services were sought by princely pa-trons in The Hague and London before he reached age twenty-five, and who later in life continued to receive important religious, civic, and portrait commissions in Antwerp, Amsterdam, and Berlin—Lievens barely reg-isters today in the public consciousness.

Because Lievens and Rembrandt (1606–1669) were born in Leiden just over a year apart, studied with the same master, and lived near one another, their names are for-ever conjoined. It is evident that as aspiring artists, they developed a symbiotic relation-ship that benefited them both. Neverthe-less, Rembrandt’s posthumous fame as the greatest artist of the Dutch golden age has left Lievens in his shadow, described as a follower or student, even though Leivens be-gan his career some years before his compa-triot. Owing to Lievens’ peripatetic mode of living after leaving Leiden and his resultant international style of painting, a number of his best works were later attributed to Rem-brandt, as well as to other artists. Fortunately, these misattributions are being corrected, and Lievens’ early paintings are now better known, with the brashness of his vision and

the boldness of his brushwork seen as rival-ing Rembrandt’s during the formative period of their careers. It is argued that in many respects, Lievens was the initiator of the sty-listic and thematic developments that char-acterized both artists’ work in the late 1620s.

This exhibition, organized by the Na-tional Gallery of Art, in association with the Milwaukee Art Museum and the Rembrandt House Museum, Amsterdam, for the first time, presents an overview of the full range of Lievens’ career, and a long overdue reas-sessment of his artistic contribution. It will include about forty-five of his finest paint-ings—memorable character studies, genre scenes, landscapes, formal portraits, and religious and allegorical images—drawn from collections in England, Europe, and America, as well as some eighty drawings and prints.

—Arthur K. Wheelock Jr., Curator of Northern Baroque Painting, National Gallery of Art, and curator of the exhibition

This article was excerpted and modified for the pur-poses of this magazine with permission from the author. Read the original essay in its entirety in the exhibition catalogue, Jan Lievens: A Dutch Master Rediscovered.

member preview celebration | thurs, feb 5, 5–9 pm

opening | feb 7–Apr 26 | bAker/rowLAnd gALLeries


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Jan Lievens programs + eventsPresident’s Circle PreviewWed, Feb 4, 5:30–9 pm Watch for your invitation in the mail. Sponsored by Isabel and Alfred Bader

Member Preview CelebrationThurs, Feb 5, 5–9 pm $20 non-members 6:15 pm Program Appetizers and cash bar

Member Preview DaysThurs, Feb 5, 10 am–9 pm Fri, Feb 6, 10 am–5 pm

Member Exhibition TalkFri, Feb 6, 1:30 pm With Arthur K. Wheelock Jr., curator, National Gallery of Art

30-Minute Express Talks Thurs, Feb 12, 19, 26, noon

Gallery Talk: Out of Rembrandt’s Shadow Tues, Feb 10, 1:30 pm With curator Laurie Winters

Gallery Talk: Master of the PortraitTues, Feb 24, 1:30 pm With curator Laurie Winters

Vermeer’s Hat: The Global Context of Dutch ArtThurs, Feb 26, 6:15 pm Timothy Brook, principal at St. John’s College and profes-sor of Chinese history at the University of British Columbia, will discuss his best-selling book Vermeer’s Hat.

Book SalonsThurs, Feb 12, 6:15 pm With free champagne Sat, Feb 14, 10:30 am The True History of Choco-late by Sophie D. Coe and Michael D. Coe

More Online For exhibition highlights and the complete, detailed listing of programs through April, visit www.mam.org.

Special guest speakers coming in March and April: Walter Liedtke, Curator of Northern Baroque Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art; Mike Dash, author of Tulipomania; Alfred Bader, renowned Milwaukee col-lector of Dutch art

Jan Lievens CatalogueThe fully illustrated, 320-page catalogue, Jan Lievens: A Dutch Master Rediscovered by exhibition curator Arthur K. Wheelock Jr., features essays by Stephanie S. Dickey, E. Melanie Gifford, Gregory Rubenstein, Jaap van der Veen, and Lloyd DeWitt and is produced by the National Gallery of Art and published in association with Yale University Press. Available at the Museum Store and online at www.mam.org/store.Hardcover $65/$58.50 MemberSoftcover $45/$40.50 Member



The exhibition is organized by the National Gallery of Art, Washington, in association with the Milwaukee Art Museum and the Rembrandt House Museum, Amster-dam. Laurie Winters, curator of earlier European art, is the organizing curator at the Milwaukee Art Museum. The exhibition is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.

National sponsor of the exhibition

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The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation is the philanthropic legacy of two brothers, Lynde and Harry Bradley. It is a private, inde-pendent grant-making organization based in Milwaukee with programs that support human dignity and the value of intellectual and artistic freedom. The Foundation has long underwritten a wide range of cultural and artistic endeavors as a natural exten-sion of its mission to encourage education

and scholarship. The Foundation’s directors believe that the preservation and understanding of the human artistic heri-tage is as essential to an enlightened society as the study of history; that in order to remain free, a society must be cultur- ally vibrant and intellectually vigorous.

It is because this transmission of enduring principles from one generation to the next is so much a part of our work that the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation is pleased to support the exhibition Jan Lievens: A Dutch Master Rediscov-ered. We hope that it will bring new appreciation for Lievens’ genius, a deeper understanding of his place in the history of art, and most important, a renewed sense of the transcen-dence of beauty and of the human spirit.

The Foundation is grateful to the trustees and directors of both the National Gallery of Art and the Milwaukee Art Museum, and especially to Laurie Winters, curator of earlier European art at the Milwaukee Art Museum, and Arthur K. Wheelock Jr., curator of northern baroque painting at the National Gallery of Art, for their splendid work in presenting this new perspective on the art of Jan Lievens. We are privi-leged to be able to assist in their efforts.

Michael W. GrebePRESIDENT AND CHIEF ExECUTIVE OFFICER, LYNDE AND HARRY BRADLEY FOUNDATION

Lynde and harry bradleyfoundation

JAn Lievens nAtionAL sponsor

Jan Lievens, Samson and Delilah, ca. 1628 (detail). Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. sk-a-1627.

Jan Lievens, Profile Head of an Old Woman (“Rembrandt’s Mother”), ca. 1630 (detail). Collection of the Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Queen’s University. Gift of Alfred and Isabel Bader, 2005. 48-001.

we hope that the part-nership with the national

gallery of Art and the rembrandt house

museum will help the milwaukee Art museum

continue to build its international reputation.


Experience 1643 Delft with a visit to the North-ern Baroque Gallery, where the exquisite oil painting Landscape with Skaters by Dutch artist Jan van Goyen (Leiden 1595–1656 The Hague) is a highlight. This typical Netherlandish winter scene shows the people of Delft taking advantage of the ice on the canal for both transportation and sport. In the left foreground, a horse-drawn sled carries four people across the icy waterway as a young boy on skates steals a ride. To the right, two men push a barrel on a sled, and a man with a bright red cap laces up his skates. Behind him, two men and a boy play “kolf,” a popular game related to hockey. Providing the backdrop is the city of Delft, presided over by the Gothic Oude Kerk (Old Church) with its five distinctive spires towering above the old city center.

As one of the most important landscape painters of the golden age of Dutch art, Van Goyen helped develop a highly realistic ap-proach to Dutch landscape painting known as tonalism. Using a restricted palette of browns, yellows, and ochers, he created luminous representations of the humid Dutch air, cool suffused light, and broad expanses of the flat Holland terrain. As in many of Van Goyen’s panoramas, it is the sky, rather than the land or the water, that covers most of the panel.

Want to see more paintings from the Dutch golden age? Visit Jan Lievens: A Dutch Master Rediscovered, opening on February 7, 2009. More on page 4.

on view | CoLLeCtion

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Art Lives herefrom the Collection


Don’t miss this digital world-premiere exhibition! Ends Jan 11, 2009.


closing | ends JAn 11 | bAker/rowLAnd gALLeries

“people engage with the art in this gallery with their whole body.”

—scott snibbe

Act/React sponsored in part by:

“interactivity to [a] new level” —Associated press

Exhibition guest curated by George Fifield.Generous additional support provided by the Milwaukee Art Museum’s Friends of Art.


30-Minute Express Talks: Act/React Thurs, Dec 4, 11, 18 and Jan 1, 8, noon

Gallery Talks: Act/ReactTues, Dec 2 and 16, 1:30 pm

Act/React Catalogue + DVDAt the Museum Store and www.mam.org/store. $34/$30.60 Member

“playful, intuitive, and first of its kind.” —Artdaily.org


Three hundred years ago, Englishman Mark Catesby (1683–1749) first set foot in North America, determined to satisfy his “passionate desire of viewing as well the Animal as Veg-etable Productions in their Native Countries; which were Strangers to England.” Catesby’s epic undertaking, The Natural History of Car-olina, Florida, and the Bahama Islands, is a volume of 220 beautiful, hand-colored etch-ings of the flora and fauna he encountered in the British colonies.

Catesby’s work set the standard for the next generation of eminent naturalists, in-cluding John James Audubon (1785–1851). A gifted entrepreneur, artist, and naturalist, Audubon left France to make his home in the newly founded United States of America, where he sought to document all the birds in watercolors, which were then etched and

carefully colored by hand. His masterwork, The Birds of America, from Original Drawings Made during a Residence of 25 Years in the United States, is a monument in American art.

This exhibition will feature approximately sixty prints by these naturalist artists, almost exclusively drawn from the Museum’s rich collection. Works by additional artists such as Alexander Wilson and John Woodhouse Audubon, as well as rare books from the Uni-versity of Wisconsin–Madison’s Memorial Library, the Milwaukee Public Library, and the esteemed Newberry Library in Chicago, will inform the exhibition and enhance our understanding of this crucial moment in art, science, and natural history. This exhibition was organized by Mary Weaver Chapin, associate curator of prints and drawings, and supported by The Phoebe R. and John D. Lewis Foundation.

on view | exhibition

Catesby, Audubon, and the discovery of a new world prints of the flora and fauna of America

Opening Thurs, Dec 18, 5–8 pm 6:15 pm Gallery talk with curator Mary Weaver Chapin 7 pm Reception, appetizers and cash bar Sponsored by Print Forum

Gallery Talk Tues, Jan 13, 1:30 pm With exhibition curator Mary Weaver Chapin

Lecture: Audubon in the American WildernessThurs, Jan 22, 6:15 pm With Pulitzer Prize–winning author Richard Rhodes, John James Audubon, The Mak-ing of an American (2004). Reception and book signing to follow; copies avail-able in the Museum Store. $16/$14.40 MemberSponsored by American Heritage

Society, Garden Club, and

Print Forum

Gallery Talk: More than Meets the EyeTues, Feb 17, 1:30 pm On the printmaking in-novations these naturalist artists used, with Chief Conservator Jim deYoung and Associate Curator of Prints and Drawings Mary Weaver Chapin

opening | deC 18, 2008–mAr 22, 2009 | koss gALLery

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Catesby’s work set the standard for the next generation of eminent naturalists,

including John James Audubon.



on view | CoLLeCtion

opening | deC 4, 2008–mAr 3, 2009 | mezzAnine LeveL

Artist Q&AMilwaukee-based artist JoAnna Poehlmann is known nationally and internationally for her prints, drawings, and artist books of the natu-ral world, which can be found in such august institutions as the Victoria & Albert Museum, London; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; and the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis. Birds, reptiles, and insects have been an integral part of Poehlmann’s oeuvre since the 1970s, mak-ing her work a perfect pairing with the exhibi-tion Catesby, Audubon, and the Discovery of a New World: Prints of the Flora and Fauna of America. Here, curator Mary Weaver Chapin explores Poehlmann’s imagery and inspiration.

Where do you find inspiration for your work? Sources for my nature studies have been the Zoo, the Milwaukee Public Museum, the Domes, the forest floor and shoreline of Door County, and a collection of taxidermal critters.

How are you influenced by your artistic forebears such as Mark Catesby and John James Audubon?I experience the same reaction to nature they must have—awe at the endless variety and limit-less subject matter of creation, and the desire to reflect what is witnessed. My art differs in that I

title my drawings to relate to the human condi-tion; the wordplay brings the work into another, literary level. I give the masters homage, yet preserve my own individual expression.

What role do artist books play in your oeuvre? The artist book becomes a direct extension of the pictorial and verbal puns in my two-dimensional pieces, blending the visual and literary aspects of the work under “one cover.”

Gallery Talk Thurs, Feb 19, 6:15 pm With curator Mary Weaver Chapin and educator Barbara Brown Lee

“i experience the same reaction to nature…awe at the endless variety and limitless

subject matter of creation.”

drawn to natureprints by JoAnna poehlmann

JoAnna Poehlmann, Opening Night at the Ice Follies, 1962 (detail). Purchase. Photo: John R. Glembin.



opening | JAn 31–mAr 8, 2009 | sChroeder gALLeriA & pieper gALLery

The Scholastic Art Awards have been rec-ognizing and encouraging excellence in the visual arts across the United States for over eighty years. Since 1976, the Wisconsin Re-gional component has been hosted by the Milwaukee Art Museum, where thousands of students in grades 7–12 and their teachers have been encouraged and inspired in their artistic endeavors.

This year’s exciting exhibition will feature more than 350 artworks created by students from throughout Wisconsin. The works have been selected by a jury of twenty-four art professionals from over 1,500 entries in the categories of Animation, Apparel Design, Ce-ramics & Glass, Computer Art, Digital Imag-ery, Drawing, Graphic Design, Graphic Story, Installation/Environmental Design, Jewelry Design, Mixed Media, Painting, Photography, Plans and Models, Printmaking, Product De-sign, Sculpture, and Video & Film.

Award-winning students are recognized at awards ceremonies in Windhover Hall.

The Silver Key Award denotes special state-wide recognition; Gold Key Award–winning artworks continue on to the national competi-tion, along with those from over sixty-five other regional competitions throughout the nation. Students whose work receives a Silver or Gold

Medal at the national level are honored at Carn-egie Hall in New York City in June.

Helena Ehlke, who coordinates the competition and exhibition at the Museum, looks forward to seeing the work of Wiscon-sin’s up-and-coming young talent each year within the Museum. “Many of these winners go on to achieve distinction in the fields of fine and applied arts and design, and credit the early recognition they received as a par-ticipant in Scholastic.”Sponsored by the Milwaukee Art Museum, the Milwaukee Art Museum Docents, the Marc and Karen Flesch Memorial Fund, James Heller in memory of Avis Heller, Ray and Sue Kehm with matching funds from AT&T, James and Carol Wiensch, and an anonymous donor

Gallery Talk Tues, Feb 3, 1:30 pm With exhibition coordinator Helena Ehlke

this year’s exciting exhibition will feature more than 350 artworks created by

students from throughout wisconsin.

scholastic Art Awards2009 wisconsin regional exhibition

Emily Schudrowitz, Remembrance, 2008. Gold Key Award and Barbara Brown Lee Award in Digital Imagery.



The three midwestern-based artists rep-resented in this exhibition—Beth Lipman, Sarah Lindley, and BA Harrington—find in-spiration in the decorative arts of the past. Beth Lipman’s monumental sculpture Still Life with Metal Pitcher presents a dining table covered in some four hundred hand-blown vessels, each of which is a transpar-ent rendering of a historic form. Lipman loosely bases her compositions on Dutch still-life paintings, and draws parallels be-tween the golden age of Holland and today’s era of mass consumerism. Sarah Lindley’s chests and cabinets are haunting skeletal re-creations of eighteenth-century furni-ture, built of high-fired porcelain. Stripped

of all decoration, these white, fragile forms reveal the uncertainty that underlies the domestic interior. BA Harrington probes the morbid sexual metaphors lurking in old dowry chests in her installation, Dowagers. Harrington’s work blends wood, embroidery, and bright, colored paint into a provocative whole. Collectively, these three works open up new insights into historic objects and, at the same time, raise important questions about the dreams, fantasies, and memories people project onto material objects.

Artists Panel and Reception Thurs, Feb 12, 6:15 pm With the three artists

opening | feb 12–June 7, 2009 | deCorAtive Arts gALLery

remainsContemporary Artists and the material past

these three works…raise important questions about the dreams, fantasies, and memories

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Cedar Block, an events-planning organization, has partnered with the Museum on five one-night art parties related to select exhibitions: Bruce Nauman 101 (Elusive Signs: Bruce Nau-man Works with Light), Milwaukee Street Mil-waukee (In Living Color: Photographs by Saul Leiter), Three Degrees of Francis Bacon (Fran-cis Bacon: Paintings from the 1950s), The Ramírez Box (Martín Ramírez), and What You Get When You Cross... (Gilbert & George). Prior to each event, local artists are challenged, under certain restrictions, to create an origi-nal work inspired by the art in the exhibition.

How did your Museum collaboration begin?Cedar Block started as just a party for my friends. The first event, Weird Science at Luckystar Gallery, combined art, science, and music, and attracted a diverse audience. The Museum asked me to create a similar event in conjunction with its Bruce Nauman exhibition. It was a great success, and “illu-minated” the work of the featured artist.

Why do you think the Cedar Block events at the Museum are so popular? Cedar Block’s audience has always been interested in something a little new, differ-ent, and challenging. There is always some familiar element that triggers the creativity and ties it all together. After that, it’s fun to see the different interpretations of that ini-tial trigger. Seeing this work in the Museum adds another level of excitement.

Don’t miss the next MAM After Dark/Cedar Block event, Jan Lievens on a Jet Plane, Friday, February 20, 5 p.m.–midnight. See page 24.

Age: 32Day Job: Account Executive at Fullhouse MediaFavorite Artwork in the Collection: Anselm Kiefer’s Midgard Member Since: 2001

brent gohde

profiles | members mAtter


Age: 84Day Job: Art Dealer, Alfred Bader Fine ArtsFavorite Artwork in the Collection: Saint Francis of Assisi in His Tomb by Francisco de ZurbaránMember Since: 1952


At age ten, Dr. Alfred Bader purchased his first Old Master drawing with the birthday money he was given to purchase a camera. A chemist by profession, Dr. Bader founded Aldrich, later Sigma-Aldrich, in 1951, and featured paintings from his growing collec-tion of seventeenth-century Netherlandish art on the company’s catalogs. His passion for Baroque art continues today, and when he heard about Arthur Wheelock’s plans to work with Lloyd DeWitt on an exhibition at the National Gallery of Art on Dutch artist Jan Lievens, he urged the Museum’s director to bring it to Milwaukee. As a sponsor of the Jan Lievens exhibition, Dr. Bader has facilitated making this request a reality. Christina Dittrich, the Museum’s senior editor, had the pleasure of talking to Dr. Bader, now an art dealer, at his gallery.

When did you first encounter Jan Lievens?I have admired the works of Lievens since the early 1970s when I began buying his paintings. I have subsequently written about the artist in both of my autobiographies, and have given several lectures on Lievens, including a discussion on him in “The Rem-brandt Research Project and the Collector,” at the Museum in January 2006.

How do you know a particular work is worth purchasing?I know instantly by how it affects me physically.

What advice would you give to a new collector? I always advise: 1.) Never buy anything unless you love it, and 2.) Buy the best you can afford.

How did you instill an appreciation for art in your sons, David and Daniel? For this, Dr. Bader referred me to Collected Opinions: Essays on Netherlandish Art in Honour of Alfred Bader, in which his sons explain: “Our father was…persistently teach-ing us how to look at paintings, judge their condition and, with luck, learn when they were of good value.”

Dr. Bader will talk about the joys of collecting, at the Museum on April 26. His autobiography Chemistry and Art: Further Adventures of a Chemist Collector is available at the Museum Store. $30/$27 Member

dr. Alfred bader


The Roberts family visits the Milwaukee Art Museum often. Whether for the mac-n-cheese (Una’s favorite) at Café Calatrava, to see the Bradley Collection, or to take in the Lakefront Festival of Arts, the Roberts found they were visiting the Museum at least once a month.

“Logistically, it’s an easy place to visit with children. The space is familiar and comfort-able to be in, and the children find new art to be intrigued by with each visit.” Here, Michael talks about the family’s outings to the Museum.

How did visiting the Museum become a regular activity for you and the kids?We live downtown, so it is a natural destina-tion given all that it has to offer. Aine enjoys the art shows and events such as the wine tasting this last summer. Una enjoys the café and looks forward to the art-making activi-ties for families on the weekends. Eoghan’s first exhibition was Gilbert & George.

How did you decide to become Members?Becoming Members of the Museum was an easy choice because we are always going there. The Museum provides so much to do, and a great atmosphere.

As an artist yourself, do you benefit from your trips to the Museum? The Museum is a place of constant inspira-tion and a resource for questioning my own work. I’m also seeing Una begin to relate to and question the art, especially the work in the contemporary and Bradley Collection galleries. Next summer we’ll be signing her up for art classes.

Michael Roberts: Artist and stay-at-home dadAine Roberts: Brand Manager at Kohl’sUna Roberts: Age 3Eoghan Roberts: Age 12 weeksFavorite Artwork in the Collec-tion: Ruin by Nam June PaikMembers Since: 2004


the roberts family


happenings | progrAms + events

Holiday Hours Thanksgiving Closed Christmas Eve Open 10 am–3 pm Christmas Closed New Year’s Eve Open 10 am–3 pm New Year’s Day Open 10 am–8 pm

The Neapolitan Crèche On view Nov 28–Feb 15 Gallery 6

Fine Arts Society Holiday Luncheon and TourTues, Dec 2, noon

Enjoy a festive luncheon in Windhover Hall, followed by a highlights tour of the European galleries with Curator of Earlier European Art Laurie Winters. $30/per-son, rsvp 414-224-3293

Gallery Talk: The Neapolitan CrècheSat, Dec 6, 1:30 pm Experience the Museum’s seasonal display of the much-loved eighteenth-century crèche with Assistant Curator of Earlier European Art Catherine Sawinski. Learn about the handcrafted sculptures, both sacred and secular in theme, in this engaging Nativity scene.

Gallery Talk: A Christmas Story with Barbara Brown LeeThurs, Dec 11, 1:30 pm Celebrate the art of the season with Chief Educator Barbara Brown Lee, as she shares stories from religious works in the galleries.

Holiday BrunchSun, Dec 14, 10:30 am–2 pm

Spend time with family and friends over a delicious buffet prepared by Café Calatrava, in Windhover Hall. $30/$27 Member/$10 children 12 and under rsvp by December 5 to Courtney Bell at 414-224-3297 or [email protected].

Museum Store: Member Double Discount Days Thurs, Dec 4, 11, and 18, 10 am–8 pm Get your holiday decor, trim the tree, and find memo-rable, one-of-a-kind gifts at 20% off. Members enjoy free gift-wrapping.

Museum Store: After the Holiday Sale BeginsFri, Dec 26, 10 am–5 pmHoliday merchandise 25% off

Also see Family Fun (pg. 22) for gift-making opportuni-ties in the Open Studio.

holiday happenings

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happenings | membership

warm the heart with the gift of ArtA Milwaukee Art Museum membership is the perfect gift for any occasion.

Warm the heart of the people in your life with a year of art, inspiration, and fun—a gift that is beautifully packaged and that keeps giving year-round.

Membership Benefits Include:• Free general admission • Ticket(s) to each feature exhibition• Invitations and free admission to

Member-only events• Discounts in the Museum Store, on

classes and events, and on pre-pur-chased parking passes

• A subscription to the quarterly Member magazine

• Free admission to Target Family Sundays, MAM After Dark, gallery talks, and lectures

Gift Giving Has Never Been Easier!•Visit us at www.mam.org/membership• Call the Membership Hotline: 414-224-3284•Stop in the Museum during regular hours

Upgrade to a Donor-level Member and re-ceive 50% off Family and Dual gift member-ships. Call 414-224-3284 to upgrade today!



Family Time in the GalleriesSaturdays, 1–3 pm Drop in for these art activi-ties. Stay 5 minutes or stay all day!

December 6 Sketching in the Galleries: American Collections 13 Scavenger Hunt: Patterns 20 Meet the Artist of Meissen in Winter 27 ArtPack Adventures: Sketch Packs

January 3 Sketching in the Galleries: August Macke 10 Scavenger Hunt: Hands 17 Meet the Artist: Motherwell 24 ArtPack Adventures: Travel the World Through Art 31 Meet the Artist: Audubon

February 7 Sketching in the Galleries: Folk Art 14 Scavenger Hunt: Hearts 21 Meet the Artist: Picasso 28 ArtPack Adventures: Discover Color

Open StudioSundays, 1–3 pm Try your hand at the tech-niques used to create the works in the Museum’s Collection. Swing by anytime between 1 and 3 p.m.

December 7 Miniature Masterpiece Pins 14 Quilt Squares 21 Stamping: Holiday Gift Wrap 28 Still Life

January 4 Mobiles 11 Clay 18 Mosaic 25 Stain Painting

February 1 Op Art 8 Metal Tooling Valentines 15 Art Boxes

Target Family Sundays: Black History MonthSun, Feb 22, 12–4 pm Experience the colorful influences of African culture on everyday American life. Create and enjoy traditional and contemporary African crafts, storytelling, drawing workshops, music, and more.

Sponsored by

Additional support provided

by Assurant Health.

Story Time in the GalleriesSaturdays, Dec 20, Jan 24, Feb 28, 10:30 am Join us each month to hear a story relating to an artwork in the Museum’s Collection galleries, before creating your own artful drawing to take home.

Free ArtPacksEvery Saturday and Sunday, 10 am–4 pm Keep the whole family look-ing, laughing, and discovering great works of art with these self-guided activity packs.

family funFor a complete listing of programs and up-to-the-minute event details, visit www.mam.org.

22 | | winter 2008



Adult Classes (ages 16 and up) Portrait Drawing 6 Thursdays: Feb 12–Mar 19, 5:45–7:45 pm

Looking at Art 4 Thursdays: Feb 12–Mar 5 1:30–2:30 pm

Kids Classes (ages 6–15) Mixing with the Masters Saturdays: Dec 13 (Münter), Feb 21 (Lievens) 10:30 am–12:00 pm

Drawing in the Galleries: Portraits 8 Thursdays: Feb 5–Mar 26, 4:30–6:00 pm

Visit www.mam.org/learn or call 414-224-3803 for a full listing of classes.

Registration is easy! Call 414-224-3803. As always, Members receive discounts on classes. Gift certificates and scholarships are also available.




Fri, Feb 20, 5 pm–midnight It’s always a spectacle when the Mil-

waukee Art Museum collaborates with local events-planning organization Cedar Block. Jan Lievens on a Jet Plane, inspired by the Museum’s feature exhibition Jan Lievens: A Dutch Master Rediscovered, pays tribute to the seventeenth-century portrait painter and world traveler—a studio mate of Rem-brandt’s hailed for his innovative style.

Though nearly four hundred years have passed since the Old Master wielded his ar-tistic prowess, Milwaukee’s best and bright-est artists have accepted the challenge to

bring Lievens into the modern age, placing interactive artworks alongside traditional pieces as they consider portraiture’s past, present, and future. The Cedar Block installa-tions will be fully on view beginning at 8 p.m.

Coinciding with the monthly MAM After Dark series, this event will also offer mu-sic delivered by a variety of DJs, light hors d’oeuvres, a cash bar, DIY studio (where you can make and take your own art), and after-hours access to the newly opened Jan Lievens exhibition. The Museum Store will also be open late.

mAm After dark

northwestern mutuAL foundAtion presents

Jan Lievens on a Jet plane

tickets $10/Free (and one complimentary drink voucher) for Museum Members.

Advance tickets Visit www.mam.org

save the date!MAM After Dark: Gallery Night Fri, Jan 16, 5 pm–midnight


mAm After dark photo booth oct 17, 2008



sunday brunchat Café Calatrava

Every Sunday, 11 am–4 pm Enjoy classic regional breakfast and lunch fare with a modern twist at Café Calatrava, now serving Sunday brunch, weekly, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Allow us to tempt your taste buds with our signature dishes: Steak & Eggs, a Bloody Mary Burrito, Choucroute Garnie, and much more! Check out the full menu online at www.mam.org. Reservations optional, call 414-224-3831.

The Finest in the Western Country: Wisconsin Decorative Arts 1820–1900Tues, Dec 9, 1:30 pm Join guest curator Emily Pfotenhauer for an overview of the furniture, ceramics, tex-tiles, and metalwork created by Wisconsin craftspeople during the nineteenth century.

A Closer Look at Matthias StomTues, Jan 20, 1:30 pm Pause and take a longer look at the seventeenth-century Dutch masterpiece Christ Before the High Priest, with Manager of Adult and Studio Programs Amy Kirschke.

A Trip Down Memory Lane in the 20th-Century CollectionsTues, Jan 27, 1:30 pm Don’t miss this next install-ment of Chief Educator Barbara Brown Lee’s talks, as she shares stories behind works in the renowned twentieth-century collection.

Additional gallery talks

Every weekend enjoy a variety of FREE activities designed especially for the busy family—all of which encourage your child to look closely, see the world a little differently, and give shape to his or her ideas. Drop in for five minutes or stay all day. There’s always some-thing new to see and do.

Family Time in the GalleriesEvery Saturday, 1–3 pm From sketching to scavenger hunts, every week brings a new adventure.

Open StudioEvery Sunday, 1–3 pm Try your hand at the art-mak-ing used to create the works in the Museum.

Visit www.mam.org for a complete listing of programs and details.



say “i do” at the museumThe icon of Milwaukee is also an elegant, A-list venue—and Knot Magazine’s 2007 Best Pick for Weddings. Located on the lakefront, the Milwaukee Art Museum is the perfect place for your special day. Weddings at the Museum are held in the stunning, cathedral-like space of the Quadracci Pavilion—a tri-umph of architecture and engineering by world-renowned designer Santiago Calatrava. The white marble floors and expansive space serve as a beautiful stage on which to fashion the event of your dreams. Make your vision a memorable reality—the professional Museum staff is here to help.

Many couples have sealed their commitment to each other beneath the glorious wings of the Museum’s Burke Brise Soleil. Here is what a few of them had to say:

Your out-of-town guests will stand in awe and talk about the evening for years to come.

Nothing compares to the space the Museum can provide. The blank canvas the space offers is ideal for weddings. Couples can cus-tomize the décor to fit their styles.

The light during the day plays off the architec-tural elements, and by night, candlelight cre-ates a distinct mood for elegant weddings.

To begin planning your wedding at the Milwaukee Art Museum, contact Anne Radtke at 414-224-3279 or [email protected].

2007 best pick for weddings —knot magazine



happenings | membership

member extras

Join a Museum Support GroupFind your niche among one of the Museum’s eight support groups—smaller, socially active communities of Members who share an interest in a particular form of art within the Collection. For more information, call Sandi Anderson at 414-224-3253 or visit www.mam.org.

African American Art Alliance For those with an interest in

African American artAmerican Heritage Society

Stresses colonial to early-twentieth-century artContemporary Art Society

For modern and contemporary art devoteesFine Arts Society

Focuses on European art made before 1900

Friends of Art The Museum’s largest

fund- and fun-raising groupGarden Club

Members enjoy flowers and horticulturePhotography Council

For those with an interest in the art and history of photography

Print Forum For collectors, connoisseurs, and makers of prints and drawings

Special Promotions (with your membership card)Coquette Café | Receive a free Lakefront Brewery beer with each meal. Pfister Hotel | Enjoy special discounted rates. Cranston Accents | Save 10% on purchases made in December, January, and February.

Museum Store Member Double Discount Days Thurs, Dec 4, 11, and 18, 10 am–8 pm

Be My Valentine Member Jewelry Sale Fri–Fri, Feb 6–13Members receive 15% off regular-priced merchandise.

We ♥ Members Thurs, Feb 12, 5–8 pm An evening of shopping with champagne and chocolate.


The minisite for the Act/React: Interactive Art exhibition is the most ambitious the Museum has designed to date. The site features an interactive interface that allows users to browse through a virtual representation of the exhibition. There’s even a series of documentary-style videos, with behind-the-scenes footage of the installation pro-cess, artist interviews, and highlights from the Member Preview Celebration. Visit www.mam.org/act today.

At the Museum, iPod Touch Tours were successfully unveiled in a pilot program for the grand opening of the reinstalled American Collections Galler-ies on October 23. Curators at the Chipstone Foundation, who originally envisioned the project, provided audio and visual content for the tour. We are in the process of making revisions to the tour interface to reflect feed-back collected during the trial period. Owing to the success of the pilot program, iPods are expected to be available at the admissions desks for visitors to check out soon. We will post details on this exciting program on the website, as they become available.

In addition to iPod tours, interactive ki-osks and video screens have been installed in the American Collection Galleries. A “word

cloud” kiosk, for example, accompanies three objects from the American Collections and asks the question: “What word comes to mind when viewing these objects?” As visitors enter their word on the touch screen, it is added to the word cloud projected on the wall behind the objects. This exercise in “social tagging” allows visitors to con-tribute their own terminology to that used to describe relationships between works of art. Finally, video screens in the galleries show the process of woodworking and ceramics, as well as a film by Chicago artist Theaster Gates. Stop by and explore all the new addi-tions to the American Collections Galleries!

happenings | new mediA

what’s up online

the minisite for Act/React is the most ambitious the museum has

designed to date.


Buddha Board This Zen-inspired art board leaves a clean slate

and a clear mind once your drawing dries. $12–$34/$10.80–$30.60 Member

Buddha Bowls These handmade bowls are featured on

Oprah’s “O List” of favorite products.$25/$22.50 Member

Pantone Universe Add some color to your life.Messenger Bags $82/$73.80 Member Mugs $13/$11.70 Member

museum store | smArt shopping


Audubon’s Birds of America: The Audubon Society Baby Elephant Folio By Roger Tory Peterson and Virginia Marie Peterson. All 435 of Audubon’s brilliant hand-colored etchings are found here in exquisite reproductions. Hardcover, 694 pages.$185/$166.50 Member

Bird Watching KitEverything the aspiring ornithologist needs: bird ID cards, folding binoculars, and more.$25/$22.50 Member

Member Double Discount Days Thurs, Dec 4, 11, and 18, 10 am–8 pm

After the Holiday Sale Begins Fri, Dec 26, 10 am–5 pm Holiday merchandise 25% off

Artist Birthday Celebrations August Macke Sat, Jan 3, 10 am–5 pmKees van Dongen Sat, Jan 24, 10 am –5 pmReceive a free gift with your purchase.

Be My Valentine Member Jewelry Sale Fri–Fri, Feb 6–13Members receive 15% off regular-priced merchandise.

We ♥ Members Thurs, Feb 12, 5–8 pm An evening of champagne and chocolate shopping

store happenings

Art BagsThese handmade bags come in a variety of images, with shoulder straps and detachable handles. $139–$150 $125.10–$135 Member

museum store | shop onLine Anytime At www.mam.org/store

Don’t Miss It!Ends Jan 11, 2009

interactivity to [a] new level—Associated press

MAM insider | winter 0809

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