West Bend Art Museum
(as of 2007 the Museum of Wisconsin Art)
West Bend, WI
262-334-9638
Since 1991, the museum has become widely known throughout the country as the home of the most comprehensive collection of Early Wisconsin Art and the Wisconsin Art Archive -- the primary source for information on early Wisconsin art. The goal is to become one of many regional art museums in the country with a collection chronologically representative of all Wisconsin's visual art media.
The Museum's vision follows an historic pattern of focusing on Wisconsin art that has been in place since it was founded in 1961 with a core collection of paintings by Carl von Marr, one of Wisconsin's most noted late 19th century artists. (Marr was related to the museum's founding Melitta S. Pick family). In 1988 the museum's collection management policy was established, resulting in the assembly of a significant vintage collection of regional art from Wisconsin's golden age of cultural development. That collection was first unveiled a decade later as part of the state's sesquicentennial program in 1998. Since then the reputation of the museum's collections and archives has gained such momentum that today it is the leading source of art and information on this topic.
As of 2007 the museum's collection is relatively small, but tightly focused, with just under 2,000 works of art, representing nearly 300 Wisconsin artists from the timeframe of Euro-American settlement in Wisconsin to around 1950; the archives represent nearly 6,000 artists during the same timeframe. However, art was created in Wisconsin hundreds of years before white settlement and to not acknowledge that or any of the art that was created in contemporary times creates a limited and narrow understanding of Wisconsin art.
The Museum of Wisconsin Art is located at 300 South 6th Avenue in downtown West Bend. See the Museum's website for hours and admission fees.
A Google Book Search conducted December 5, 2008 located the following books indicated as having been published by the Museum. Book names followed by links to related essays published by Resource Library are a marker to prevent reduplication of effort.
Spicuzza, an Exponent of Beauty and Light: A Family Collection, By Francesco Spicuzza, Thomas Lidtke, West Bend Art Museum. Published by West Bend Art Museum, 2002. 4 pages. Essay by Thomas D. Lidtke.
Gerrit V. Sinclair, 1890-1955: A Retrospective: West Bend Art Museum, August 14-September 29, 2002, By Gerrit Van W Sinclair, Janet Treacy,. Published by West Bend Art Museum, 2002. 30 pages see Gerrit V. Sinclair 1880-1955: A Retrospect; essay by Janet Treacy (8/22/02)
Women's Work: Early Wisconsin Women Artists, West Bend Art Museum, October 3-November 11, 2001, By Heather Boright, West Bend Art Museum (West Bend, Wis.), Wis West Bend Art Museum (West Bend, West Bend Art Museum. Published by West Bend Art Museum, 2001. 72 pages
Wisconsin Art History: Early Wisconsin Craftmasters: West Bend Art Museum, May 30-July 1, 2001. Published by West Bend Art Museum, 2001. 12 pages
Wisconsin Painters & Sculptors, Wisconsin Artists in All Media: Centennial Exhibition, By West Bend Art Museum. Published by West Bend Art Museum, 2000. 29 pages
Wisconsin Art History: A Chronology of Wisconsin Art and History to 1950, By West Bend Art Museum. Published by West Bend Art Museum, 1998. 18 pages
Foundations of Art in Wisconsin: A Wisconsin Sesquicentennial Exhibition in Honor of the State's Founding Cultural Figures and Organizations, By Wis West Bend Art Museum. Published by West Bend Art Museum, 1998. 46 pages see Preface to "Foundations of Art in Wisconsin" by Thomas D. Lidtke (9/29/01)
My Life: An Autobiography, By John Marr,. Published by West Bend Art Museum, 1998. 20 pages
Collecting the Art of Wisconsin: The Early Years, By West Bend Art Museum. Published by West Bend Art Museum, 1996. 5 pages
George Raab: prominence in 19th century regional art, By George Raab, West Bend Art Museum. Published by West Bend Art Museum, 1994. 28 pages. "West Bend Art Museum, June 8-July 17, 1994 ; Springfield Art Association of Edwards Place, July 30-September 4, 1994." George Raab: Wisconsin Artist, essay segment by Peter C. Merrill (9/21/01)
Book information courtesy of Google Books.
The potential for the essays in the above books to be placed online for free access by the public is of interest to TFAO. For information on digitizing initiatives from non profit organizations please see digitizing initiatives. Also please see commercial ventures. For information on two of TFAO's digitizing initiatives please click here for the Institutional Sources Study Project, here for the Collections-Centric Scholarly Texts Project, here for Resource Library's Scholarly texts services to Institutions, and here for TFAO's grant program for conversion of analog text to digital files and online publication of scholarly texts
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