Over the years, Milwaukee Art Museum has occasionally presented shows of some of the greatest works drawn from other world-class museums around the globe.
One thinks, for example, back to 2002’s "Leonardo da Vinci and the Splendor of Poland: A History of Collecting and Patronage," and 2016’s "From Rembrandt to Parmigianino: Old Masters from Private Collections," as well as a trio of 2015 exhibitions: "Van Gogh to Pollock: Modern Rebels, Masterworks from the Albright-Knox Art Gallery," "Of Heaven and Earth: 500 Years of Italian Painting from Glasgow Museums" and "Rembrandt, Van Dyck, Gainsborough: The Treasures of Kenwood House, London."
That track record – the Poland show brought a gorgeous Da Vinci painting to Brew City! – makes me eager to see "A Modern Vision: European Masterworks from The Phillips Collection," which opens at MAM on Nov. 15.
The show, which cherry picks gems from the renowned Washington, D.C. museum, will include paintings by iconic artists like Claude Monet, Vincent van Gogh, Amedeo Modigliani, Paul Cezanne and Pablo Picasso, to name a few.
"The Phillips Collection is one of those unique institutions, with a collection that was groundbreaking in its day, and is full of singular paintings that exemplify the very best of each artist that Duncan Phillips collected," said Tanya Paul, Isabel and Alfred Bader Curator of European Art, Milwaukee Art Museum.
"At the same time, the collection is deeply personal, not only because it is Phillips’s own vision of modernism, but also because it retains an intimacy that derives from its presentation in the childhood home of its collector."
The museum, founded by Duncan Phillips in D.C.’s DuPont Square neighborhood in 1921, opened in the family’s three-story Georgian townhouse and was the country’s first modern art museum.
A century later it remains one of the must-see institutions in the nation’s capital.
But until you can make it there, you can enjoy some of the works, by the likes of Édouard Manet, Gustave Caillebotte, Berthe Morisot, Vincent van Gogh, Edgar Degas, Pierre Bonnard and Wassily Kandinsky, as well as the artists named above.
The show, which runs through March 22, includes 50 works.
"Whether someone has already fallen in love with The Phillips Collection or is excited to see paintings by van Gogh and Cézanne, as well as additional works in the Milwaukee Art Museum’s collection by Kandinsky, Picasso and Monet, this exhibition’s visit is a gift to Milwaukee’s art lovers," said Amanda C. Peterson, senior director, audience engagement, Milwaukee Art Museum.
"With the paintings, the artists, the events around the exhibition, and the stories around the collectors, we know this is an exhibition our visitors will love."
As always, a slate of related programming is scheduled to accompany the exhibition and includes Gallery Talks with Tanya Paul on Nov. 19, Dec. 17, Jan. 14, Feb. 11 and March 17, and Feb. 1 with Beatrice Armstrong of the French Institute of Milwaukee.
There will also be a lecture on Pierre Bonnard on Thursday, Feb. 27 at 6:15 p.m., as well as Express Talks and a concert series, too.
Full details on all programming can be found here.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
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