Milwaukee Art Museum by Calatrava
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
"The Milwaukee Arts Museum has its roots in two Milwaukee art groups from the 1880s. These organizations and their collections merged under one roof for the first time in 1957. The Museum and its holdings continued to grow over the decades. In 2001, a major addition put the Museum on the map, nationally as well as internationally.
"The Milwaukee Art Association encouraged Frederick Layton, owner of a meatpacking business, to fulfill a promise he made a few years earlier to establish Milwaukee’s first art gallery. A new Greek Revival building costing $115,000 was erected downtown on the corner of Mason and Jefferson Streets, and opened in 1888 as the Layton Art Gallery. The building was designed by London architects W.J. and G.A. Audsley, and constructed by E.T. Mix & Co. Layton provided the gallery with a $100,000 endowment and 38 paintings, many of which remain as the nucleus of the Milwaukee Art Museum’s Layton Art Collection.
"By 1911, the Milwaukee Art Society, formerly the Milwaukee Art Association, had moved into its newly purchased building and property on Jefferson Street, located just north of the Layton Art Gallery. Nearly 600 members strong by 1914, the Milwaukee Art Society began the annual Wisconsin Painters and Sculptors exhibition and offered free Saturday classes for children, a tradition continued by the Museum today. In 1913, Dudley Crafts Watson became the first director of the Milwaukee Art Society and, in 1916, changed the name to the Milwaukee Art Institute. In 1918, the first annual grant of $5,000 was provided to the Milwaukee Art Institute by the City of Milwaukee. In 1919, city support grew to $10,000, then to $13,000 in 1920, and to $20,000 in 1922.
"In the later years of World War II, three women’s clubs—Altrusa, Zonta, and the Business and Professional Women’s Club—became united in the purpose of establishing a war memorial in Milwaukee County. Inspired by their vision, the Milwaukee Civil Alliance formed the Milwaukee War Memorial Corporation and invited famed architect Eliel Saarinen (1873–1950) to design the War Memorial Center. When Eliel Saarinen died suddenly in 1950, his son, Eero Saarinen took over the project. Hailed as a masterpiece of mid-twentieth-century design, the War Memorial Center was dedicated “To Honor the Dead by Serving the Living” on November 11, 1957. When the Milwaukee Art Institute and Layton Art Gallery moved into their new quarters, the Layton collection came under the curatorial supervision of the Milwaukee Art Institute (today the Milwaukee Art Museum), where it continues to be preserved and exhibited today. In January 1958, the Milwaukee Art Institute changed its name to the Milwaukee Art Center.
"In the late 1960s, Peg Bradley, wife of Harry Lynde Bradley who co-founded the Allen-Bradley Company, offered her entire collection of more than 600 Modern, American, and European works of art to the Museum. She challenged the community to build a museum addition to house the extensive collection, and donated $1 million towards construction. The challenge was met: in 1975, the Kahler building addition opened with vastly enlarged galleries.
"In 1980, the Milwaukee Art Center changed its name to the Milwaukee Art Museum, to reflect its mission to collect, preserve, and exhibit art. The Museum was fully accredited by the American Association of Museums in 1983.
"In the early stages of planning for the Museum’s centennial birthday, another major expansion was proposed and accepted. In 1994, based upon his international vision and skill as an engineer and architect, Spanish-born architect Santiago Calatrava was chosen to be the designer to carry the Museum into the next millennium. On December 10, 1997, the Milwaukee Art Museum broke ground for the new addition.
"The Quadracci Pavilion, the first Calatrava-designed building to be completed in the United States, opened in 2001 to rave reviews. The expansion project included new exhibition galleries and an auditorium, as well as a museum store and cafe. In addition, the Museum completely renovated and remodeled its Collection galleries." (See Link.)
Photo: Taken in Milwaukee Wisconsin in 2006 by SW.
Link: http://www.mam.org/info/history.php
