Milwaukee Art Museum on a Rainy Day

It's raining in Milwaukee (and sort of snowing), so that makes it a good time to go to a museum. I've never been to the Milwaukee Art Museum before.

Thankfully, MAM is one of the museums that allows anyone to shoot nonflash photos of the works, so I have some things to share.


The Calatrava addition to the museum is a work of art itself. Thought it's hard not to wonder how they keep all that whiteness clean.


The special exhibition hall, across the wide atrium.


The prow of the addition extends out to the edge of Lake Michigan.


In the midst of all that whiteness, this glass work by Dale Chihuly is startling.

We didn't visit the Frank Lloyd Wright exhibit, preferring to check out the exhibits in the main building. First, the Modern Design collection.


What decade would you guess this settee dates from? I would have thought the 1920s or 30s. But no -- it's from 1825-30 Vienna.


The design pieces were generally grouped by color, including this odd couple -- Frank Lloyd Wright's 1921-22 Peacock Chair beside Eero Saarinen's Pastille chair from 1968.

We spent a lot of time looking at paintings from many different eras, but I'll spare you those photos.


This is the Infinity Cube. I didn't note the artist's name, but it's a black box with mirrors and lights that's quite disconcerting to spend time in.


This pixellated portrait of Madam C.J. Walker, by Sonya Clark, was quite striking and the closer I got to it, the more interesting it got.


Walker was the first black female millionaire, and she made her money in hair products for black women. Clark used black plastic combs as her medium.

MAM has a nice collection of folk art on display as well. Many interesting figural sculptures, but here are two painted works:


Morris Hirshfield, Landscape with House II, 1940.


John Perates, Madonna and Child, also 1940. I love the staring eyes and the miniature figures that frame the main image. It has the feel of being made from bottle caps, even though it's not.


The museum's logo gives another idea of what the building looks like from the outside. All in all, it's a good museum, well worth a visit.