Even though it was cool and cloudy, I took a morning walk. I started at the Riverwalk in front of our hotel and ultimately made it back to Lake Michigan, catching a view of the Milwaukee Art Museum with its wings closed (before opening hours).Since rain was forecast, we decided to spend our day there. The permanent collection is far reaching, with over 30,000 works from antiquity to the present, including decorative arts and several centuries of European paintings. It could take days to see everything, so we focused on our favorites:
The Museum has one of the largest collections of Georgia O'Keeffe's work (she was originally from Wisconsin).
European impressionists such as Monet and Chagall
American art after 1960 including Warhol, Lichtenstein and, more recently Kehinde Wiley.
One of the more interesting pieces was "Rainbow Bridge" by Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson, which was composed of 12 glass spheres that reveal the colors of the spectrum. But only by walking the length of the spheres are you able to see each one. Otherwise, they appear black or clear.
The most unique attraction was South African artist William Kentridge's "More Sweetly Play the Dance," combining drawing, filmmaking and animation with a spirited soundtrack. After viewing a short video about him, we were ushered into a room with 8 large screens -- 120 ft. In length -- and almost reaching the ceiling and placed in angles. On them we watched a video procession of displaced characters led by a brass band -- some of it animated but most of the human figures were real -- set to music that was distinctly African in nature - apparently a commentary on lingering racism in South Africa.
We took a break and ate lunch in the cafe and continued our visit.
We saw a fascinating exhibit of American landscape photography from the 1880's. Dubbed "Photographing Nature's Cathedrals: Carleton E. Watkins, Eadweard Muybridge and H.H. Bennett," it was a collection of photographs depicting Yosemite and the Dells of Wisconsin River. Their work, which involved great effort due to the nature of the craft at that time, encouraged tourism as well as preservation of these magnificent sites.
A word about the Museum architecture which is truly unique. The Quadracci Pavilion, built by Santiago Calatrava in 2001, has huge white wings of glass, concrete and steel that open and close with the hours of the museum. It resembles a bird spreading its wings and taking off over Lake Michigan. The structure adjoins the original museum built in the 50's by Finnish-American architect Eero Saarinen.
After spending almost 4 hours there, we returned to our room for a brief respite and then headed to the ball park to see the Milwaukee Brewers play the LA Dodgers. Ed pre-bought parking so we were not far from the stadium. Although it was raining, we were in luck because the stadium is enclosed. We had great seats - front row of an elevated section behind home plate. We had a great meal of Bar-B-Q. It was an enjoyable game, although the home team didn't win.
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