Wisconsin Art Museums Fit Every Interest

. October 14, 2008

DECEMBER 4, 2006. With collections that range from folk art to the Old Masters, pre-Christian Greek earthenware to modern American expressionism, Wisconsin's art museums offer exhibits to please visitors of all tastes. Here is a summary of the state's top art museums and their major collections:

Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee

This official icon of the city is hard to miss. The architectural anomaly of its outstretched wings is the largest work in the museum's collection and is always on view along the Lake Michigan shoreline. Inside, visitors can discover the nationally acclaimed collection of American decorative arts, German Expressionism, folk and Haitian art, and cutting-edge contemporary art among the Museum's nearly 20,000 works ranging from antiquity to the present. Visitors can see their favorite work time and again, catch the latest featured exhibition before it leaves, take a whimsical self-guided tour, learn how to create a work that looks like an O'Keeffe, relax after the workweek with a social "First Fridays" event, see a film made in a day, or purchase creative toys, jewelry, and books in the award-winning gift store. 414/224-3200; www.mam.org

Haggerty Museum of Art, Milwaukee

The Haggerty Museum is located on the campus of Marquette University and has a diverse permanent collection ranging from Renaissance paintings, to African masks, to works by modern and contemporary artists. Albrecht Durer, Salvador Dali, Marc Chagall and Pablo Picasso are just a few of the noted artists included in the collection. Rotating exhibitions, which change every 8-12 weeks, offer a wide range of viewing experiences from Old Master paintings and drawings to contemporary sculpture and video installations. 414/288-7290; www.mu.edu/haggerty

Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, Madison

Designed by world-renowned architect Cesar Pelli, the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art's exhilarating new facility offers 51,500 square feet of space for the study, presentation and conservation of modern and contemporary art, as well as a 7,100-square-foot rooftop sculpture garden. Public amenities include spacious galleries, a 230-seat lecture hall, a children's classroom, a new-media gallery, and a study center for drawings, prints, and photographs. The museum's collection traces its origins to a major gift from Rudolph and Louise Langer in 1968. Works span the 20th and 21st centuries and include paintings, sculpture, photography, prints, and drawings. Romare Bearden, Deborah Butterfield, John Steuart Curry, Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, and Cindy Sherman are among the many esteemed artists represented in the collection.

608/257-0158; www.mmoca.org

John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan

The John Michael Kohler Arts Center, located 45 minutes north of Milwaukee in downtown Sheboygan, is a nationally acclaimed and leading Midwest art museum and performing arts center. The Arts Center boasts extraordinary exhibitions of contemporary art, as well as art by self-taught, folk, and vernacular artists. Complete with a 99,000 square foot facility and ten galleries, the Arts Center is world-renowned for its six artist-commissioned public washrooms. The Arts Center is also recognized for its highly regarded and one-of-a-kind ARTS/Industry artist residency program. The program is a year-round performing arts series that presents dance, music, and theater performances featuring artists from around the world, and an annual summer arts festival. The Arts Center also operates one of only three full-time arts-based Preschool programs in the U.S. housed within an art museum. 920/458-6144; www.jmkac.org

Racine Art Museum, Racine

One of North America's largest collections of contemporary crafts, located in downtown Racine, in a building created from several existing Civil War-era structures, the Racine Art Museum features the work of internationally recognized artists. The Racine Art Museum's exhibits include ceramics, fiber arts, glass, metals, wood, painting and sculpture. The museum's permanent collections total more than 4,000 works, including over 2,000 pieces in a major craft media collection dating from the 1960s to the present. Permanent holdings also include works on paper, including more than 300 individual pieces and portfolios by artists who worked in Wisconsin and New York City under the WPA Federal Art Project during the 1930s. The Racine Art Museum hosts traveling exhibitions of national and regional importance as well as shows from the museum's significant permanent collection of contemporary craft. 262/638-8300; www.ramart.org

Chazen Museum of Art, Madison

The Chazen Museum of Art is a leading university art museum with a reputation for exceptional exhibitions, insightful programs and arts activities for all ages. Located on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus, the Chazen houses 11 galleries displaying temporary exhibitions, as well as highlights from the museum's permanent holdings of 18,000 works. The permanent collection, ranging from the ancient Egyptians to the present, focuses on western European and American painting, sculpture, and graphics with stellar examples by Giorgio Vasari, Bernardo Strozzi, Jean-Baptiste Corot, Eug`ene Boudin, Auguste Rodin, David Smith, Hans Hofmann, Louise Nevelson, and Helen Frankenthaler. Other notable collections include European and Chinese export porcelain, Russian and Soviet paintings, Lalique glass, Indian sculpture, Indian miniature paintings and Japanese prints. 608/263-2246; http://chazen.wisc.edu

Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum, Wausau

Located in Wausau, the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum is known for exhibiting works from around the world. The renovated 1931 English Tudor in which the museum is housed serves as the backdrop for the acclaimed "Birds in Art," an international juried exhibition held each autumn that showcases diverse avian species and artistic styles. Other highlights include a permanent collection on historic and contemporary bird imagery spanning four centuries, an active schedule of 8-12 exhibitions, education programs for all ages, a formal English garden and woodland pond. The museum also features the Margaret Woodson Fisher Sculpture Garden, the site of an outdoor summer concert series and OctoBIRDfest, a fun and feathery family festival. 715/845-7010; www.lywam.org

Bergstrom-Mahler Museum, Neenah

Delight in the myriad artworks housed in this world-renowned museum situated in the Fox Cities. The world's foremost collection of glass paperweights, numbering more than 2,000, is here in the former home of Evangeline Bergstrom, who began collecting paperweights in 1935 at the age of 62 and whose collection spawned the museum. View significant holdings of Germanic glass drinking vessels, Victorian glass baskets, and Contemporary glass art forms. Diverse temporary exhibits of other art forms are displayed throughout the year. Functioning also as a community arts center, Bergstrom-Mahler Museum offers many educational opportunities to students of all ages, including classes, lectures, and demonstrations. 920/751-4658; www.bergstrom-mahlermuseum.com

Paine Art Center and Gardens, Oshkosh

The Paine Art Center and Gardens, founded in 1946, is an extraordinary combination of historic mansion, art galleries and seasonal display gardens. The home and decorative architectural elements are of 19th century Tudor-Revival styling. Architect Bryant Fleming of Ithaca, New York designed the elaborate home for Nathan and Jessie Kimberly Paine. The Paine is an outstanding example of quality craftsmanship displayed by parapeted bays, windows with random-colored leaded glass in traciered Tudor-arched openings with label hood molds, finely detailed ceiling strap work, decorative chimney pots, exquisitely carved millwork and a massive paneled front door. Fifty-seven different woods are used throughout the home. It is furnished with a mixture of antiques and commissioned pieces, as well as, an outstanding collection of French and American landscape paintings, authentic rugs and beautiful decorative tapestries. In 2003, the Paine added the Family Discovery Gallery, a permanent interactive center for children and their families.

920/235-6903; www.thepaine.org

Charles Allis Art Museum/Villa Terrace Decorative Arts Museum, Milwaukee

The Charles Allis Museum, housed in a Tudor-style mansion, features paintings, prints, sculpture and ceramics. The permanent collection includes fine cloisonn'e; ivories and ancient glass from the Near East, China and Japan; French art and furniture; 19th century American paintings; and ancient Egyptian, Greek and Roman bronze pieces. Villa Terrace, designed in the style of a 16th century northern Italian villa, features furnishings and art from the 15th to 18th centuries. Major exhibits include the Colnik Collection of metal works. The recently restored Renaissance Gardens are also a must-see. Both museums are a part of the Milwaukee County War Memorial Corporation.

Charles Allis: 414/278-8295; Villa Terrace: 414/271-3656; www.cavtmuseums.org

West Bend Art Museum, West Bend

This 21,000 square foot museum houses the only Wisconsin regional art collection in existence. Beginning with Euro-American settlement in Wisconsin from 1820 to 1950, the 2,000 piece collection includes 19th and early 20th century paintings, prints, photographs, sketchbooks, murals, bronze and decorative arts, chronicling the artistic output of Wisconsin's earliest visual arts' notables as well as the evolution of Wisconsin art. Highlights include Carl von Marr's enormous painting The Flagellants, sketches by world-renowned architect Frank Lloyd Wright, paintings and photographs by famed American photographer Edward Steichen, as well as rare works by Owen Gromme, Ruth Grotenrath, George Mann Neidecken, Milwaukee's panorama painters, furniture by Brooks Stevens and photographs by H.H. Bennett. The museum also houses an archive on Wisconsin art. Temporary exhibitions feature many of Wisconsin's best contemporary artists.

262/334-9638; www.wbartmuseum.com

Rahr-West Art Museum, Manitowoc

Listed on the Register of National Historic places, this 1891 Victorian mansion boasts art works from William Bougeureau, Daniel Ridgeway Knight, William Paxton, Georgia O'Keeffe, Pablo Picasso, Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Salvadore Dali, and Joan Miro. A modern wing rotates temporary exhibits and a permanent collection of American art that features 19th century paintings, Boehm porcelains, Chinese ivory carvings and international antique dolls. A variety of classes and family activities make this art museum a city jewel. 920/683-4501; www.rahrwestartmuseum.org/index.html

Anderson Arts Center, Kenosha

A 9,000 square-foot French Renaissance Revival mansion dating back to 1929 is the home of the Anderson Arts Center, located on five acres of Lake Michigan shorefront in Kenosha. The center is a full-service, multi-functional arts center, showcasing the work of local, regional and national artists in rooms with stunning architectural features. The center offers five to six major art exhibitions each year and children's art classes, summer art camp, workshops, lectures and holiday events. 262/653-0481; www.andersonartscenter.com

For more information about travel in Wisconsin, the public can visit travelwisconsin.com or call the Wisconsin Department of Tourism at 1-800-432-TRIP/8747. Travelers can also obtain guides and information at the Wisconsin Welcome Centers, located in select state-border cities.

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