Art Gaze

Everyone seems to know a few things about Vincent van Gogh: He painted "The Starry Night," he cut off part of his ear, and he committed suicide. There is no questioning the first statement – it's an absolute fact. But when it comes to the complicated lives of artists, history is filled with myths ripe for endless investigation and revision (just ask Leonardo da Vinci). Van Gogh, who sold only one painting in his lifetime, achieved posthumous acclaim for his art and much attention for the made-for-television drama of his personal life. But two of the oft-cited van Gogh stories are fading under the scrutiny of new theories.

Milwaukee’s autumn exhibitions are sprouting up like colorful chrysanthemums. Here’s an early bouquet for your enjoyment:

“Out of the Suitcase IV: Works by Recent Recipients of the Mary L. Nohl Suitcase Awards” opened Aug. 20 in the Frederick Layton Gallery of the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design, 273 E. Erie St. Artists shown are grant winners from the past two years, and it’s a sort of homecoming for local art that has put on some miles. MIAD gallery director Mark Lawson notes, “The idea is of the Suitcase Awards is to help artists and their artwork travel to locations outside of Milwaukee, to get Milwaukee’s artwork out into the world. Through the grants, the exhibiting artists showed their works from Africa, Europe and Asia to venues in the United States.” MIAD hosts a belated opening celebration on Sept. 8, and the show continues through Oct. 8.

Dec. 2 brings the city a new round of art openings, even if it is not gallery night. 

The Marshall (arts) Building in the Third Ward on the corner of Water and Buffalo Streets will host an open house in conjunction with Christmas in the Ward. 

Sometimes, the discretely remote art history gallery tucked into UWM’s Mitchell Hall, 3203 N. Downer Ave., Room 154, hosts some delicious shows, most often with an academic swirl.

Opening Oct. 6, from 5 to 7 p.m. and running through Oct. 26 is a knock-out little exhibition curated by art history graduate student Nathan Gramse. “The Expressionist Portrait: Pathos and Persona in German Art” features drawings, paintings and prints by Max Beckmann, Oskar Kokoschka, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and others hailing from Germany and Austria at the turn of the century.

October arrives with a bountiful harvest of exhibitions and art lectures in Milwaukee. Here are some early fruits to enjoy.

Thurs., Oct. 6, has a veritable cornucopia of events. UWM Art History Gallery opens “The Expressionist Portrait: Pathos and Persona in German Art,” with a talk by Kenneth Bendiner at 6 p.m. (see Artwatch, Sept. 22, 2011). On the Marquette University campus, 13th Street and Clybourn, Milwaukee artists present “Conversations About Art, Philosophy, and Communication.” This discussion is a complement to the “Current Tendencies” exhibition, and it is followed by a reception. Vying for your attention this same evening is artist Jim Campbell at the Milwaukee Art Museum, 700 N. Art Museum Dr. He speaks at 6:15 about his art, technology, and his recent addition to the MAM collection, “Taxi Ride to Sarah's Studio” (2010).

According to the ancient Romans, Aug. 24 marked the end of “dies caniculares” or the “Dog Days” of summer. There is indeed an almost palpable sense of fall slinking behind the delicious summer shadows.

While most of us were lazing on the beach during the dog days, the Haggerty Museum of Art on the Marquette University campus kept vastly productive. Director Wally Mason had set a goal when he took the job in 2007 to digitalize the permanent collection. And, voila, he/they did it. The permanent collection can now be searched and accessed at museum.marquette.edu. While this may sound like dull office work or just some technical house cleaning, it is indeed monumental. For a museum collection to live and breathe, it must be fully used and viewed and democratically accessed.