Botticelli among treasures at the Chazen Museum of Art's 'Life, Love & Marriage in Renaissance Italy'

ARTDAILY 

Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi, called Sandro Botticelli (b. 1445, Florence; d. 1510, Florence) and Workshop, Madonna and Child, ca. 1490, tempera and gold on panel, 28 7/8 x 22 5/8 x 3 7/8 in. (73.5 x 57.5 x 10 cm), collection of Museo Stibbert, Florence, Italy, Inv. 16209.

MADISON, WI .- Drawing on a selection of outstanding panels and complete cassoni—elaborately decorated wedding chests—together with textiles, majolica ware, paintings and other domestic items, this exhibition explores and illustrates life, love, and marriage in Renaissance Florence. Many of the objects—all from the Stibbert Collection in Florence—have never crossed the Atlantic Ocean before, and a Botticelli madonna and child painting is among the treasures. Interactive stations within the exhibit, including family heraldry, gaming tables and tarot cards, will give visitors an immersive Renaissance experience. Serving as status symbols, they demonstrated the family’s wealth and position in society. [More]

Museum exhibit: ‘The Seventh Day: Revisiting Shabbat’

THE JEWISH CHRONICLE
By Zak Mazur

"Rainbow Shabbat" by Judy Chicago (1992); Style: Feminist Art; Genre: figurative; Location: Brooklyn Museum, New York City, NY, US File Source: www.brooklynmuseum.org

MILWAUKEE – It is said that Shabbat is the most important ritual observance in Judaism and is the only ritual observance instituted in the Ten Commandments. Halakha — Jewish law — describes how Shabbat should be observed in precise detail, which is how Orthodox Jews observe the day of rest. What does Shabbat look like and how is it observed?” You’ll be able to explore that complex question at an upcoming Jewish Museum Milwaukee exhibit, “The Seventh Day: Revisiting Shabbat.” The exhibit runs through Dec. 31 at the museum, 1360 N. Prospect Ave. For museum hours and special programming visit JewishMuseumMilwaukee.org. [More]

Tear down the Confederate monuments—but what next? 12 art historians on the way forward

ARTNET NEWS

Virginia State Police in riot gear stand in front of the statue of General Robert E. Lee before forcing white nationalists, neo-Nazis and members of the "alt-right" out of Emancipation Park after the "Unite the Right" rally was declared an unlawful gathering August 12, 2017 in Charlottesville, Virginia. Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Across the United States, the debate about Confederate memorials and other monuments to a racist past has entered a critical phase. In the wake of the horrifying events of Charlottesville, city governments from Baltimore, Maryland, to Madison, Wisconsin, have been moved to act. Yet important questions about how to act remain. What is the most effective way to deal with such historically loaded material? Once removed, what is to be done with the disputed monuments? We asked 12 art historians and experts, who have dedicated their work to exploring the finer points of such matters, for their insight on the debate currently gripping the country. Above all, should Confederate monuments be removed, and if so, how? [More]

Esther’s Jewish quilts tell a startling, uncomfortable story

THE WISCONSIN JEWISH CHRONICLE
By Amy Waldman

“Prelude to The Final Solution” by Esther Nisenthal Krinitz, 1992. There are traveling exhibits of both photographic works and the original fabric art. Milwaukee is to house the original fabric art, starting Feb. 17, 2016. The original fabric art exhibit next travels to metro Detroit. Courtesy of Art & Remembrance.

WISCONSIN---Prior to 1977, Esther Nisenthal Krinitz used words to tell the story of how she and her sister Mania survived Nazi-occupied Poland. At 50, Krinitz began working in a new medium – textiles. Between then and her death in 2001 at age 74, she created the 36 exquisitely detailed collages featured in “Fabric of Survival: The Art of Esther Nisenthal Krinitz.” The exhibit opens Feb. 17 at the Jewish Museum Milwaukee, 1360 N. Prospect Ave., a program of Milwaukee Jewish Federation. Molly Dubin, the museum’s curator, said this particular Holocaust-related exhibit is unusual for several reasons. [link]

Wisconsin High School Art Teacher Brings New Life to Religious Art

POST-CRESENT
By Jim Collar

WISCONSIN---Churches are places of renewal, but sometimes they need a little renewal of their own. Bruce Nufer, a member of Menasha’s St. Mary Catholic Parish, took notice whether it was the chipping paint on statues or the haze over paintings developed over a century in the midst of incense smoke. So, the former Neenah High School art teacher rolled up his sleeves, and is restoring the religious art, knowing he’s also reviving spiritual inspiration. [link]

Eugene Von Bruenchenhein's ‘King of Lesser Lands’

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By Ken Johnson

o The Endless Span of Creation December 15, 1954 24 x 24 inches (61 x 61 cm) Oil on board

NEW YORK---Eugene Von Bruenchenhein (1910-1983) made doughnuts in a Milwaukee bakery. Otherwise he lived and worked in an enchanted world of art and fantasy that he ruled with his wife, Marie, in a small, clapboard house. Now he’s considered one of America’s great self-taught artists. This inspiring exhibition at Andrew Edlin samples his diverse efforts. These ethereal visions of spiritual glory contrast sharply with the humble circumstances of their origins. [link]

The story of a Pope portrait made out of 17,000 condoms to fight AIDS

HYPERALLERGIC
By Debra Brehmer

Niki Johnson’s “Eggs Benedict,” aka the ‘Condom Pope,’ installed at Portrait Society (all photos by Art Elkon unless otherwise noted)

WISCONSIN---It’s not unusual for a work of art to cause outrage, especially if it dips into the tender zones of race, gender, or religion. It is no surprise, then, that news of the Milwaukee Art Museum (MAM) acquiring a seven-foot-tall, double-sided portrait of Pope Benedict XVI woven from 17,000 condoms has caused consternation, 500 comments within the first day of a local newspaper article online, national coverage, and threats from museum members, donors, and docents to withdraw support. But it seems as if everyone loses during these flare-ups. The ‘Condom Pope’ has not even gone on view at the museum yet. [link]

Catholics angered by art museum's embrace of condom portrait of pope

MILWAUKEE-WISCONSIN JOURNAL SENTINEL
By Annysa Johnson

Niki Johnson's artwork, "Eggs Benedict,"

WISCONSIN---The decision by the Milwaukee Art Museum to acquire and prominently display a controversial portrait of Pope Benedict XVI fashioned from 17,000 colored condoms has created outrage among Catholics and others who see it as profoundly disrespectful, even blasphemous. Titled "Eggs Benedict," it was inspired by comments made by the pope during a 2009 visit to Africa in which he suggested that the use of condoms could exacerbate the spread of AIDS. The museum acquired the portrait from local philanthropist and gay rights advocate Joseph Pabst, who purchased it for about $25,000 and donated it to the institution. [link]

Milwaukee JCC exploring Jewish identity through art

WUWM
By Bonnie North

"Hot Springs National Park - Gulpha Creek" is featured in the "Living Waters" exhibit at the JCC as an exploration of both water and Jewish identity. Helene Fischman helenefischman.com

WISCONSIN---Thursday evening at the Harry & Rose Samson Family Jewish Community Center in Whitefish Bay, an exhibit featuring the work of more than 20 artists will open. The Milwaukee Jewish Artists’ Laboratory created the Living Waters exhibition. It’s the result of the group’s yearlong communal exploration on the theme of water and Jewish identity. "Everyone interprets it according to their own plug in to being Jewish and also to their own exploration of what water is and how it could work in their medium," says founder Jody Hirsch. [link]

Italian Masterworks from Glasgow Museums Travel to Milwaukee Art Museum

ARTDAILY

Cavaliere d’Arpino (Giuseppe Cesari), Archangel Michael and the Rebel Angels, ca. 1592–93.

WISCONSIN---Opening in fall 2014, the Milwaukee Art Museum welcomes some of the biggest names in European art in Of Heaven and Earth: 500 Years of Italian Painting from Glasgow Museums. The exhibition debuts in Milwaukee on Thursday, October 2. Displayed in five chronological sections, Of Heaven and Earth will include paintings originating from the principal artistic centers of Italy—Rome, Milan, Bologna, Florence, Siena, Naples, and Venice—and will present the works of artists such as Giovanni Bellini, Sandro Botticelli, Domenichino, Francesco Guardi, Salvator Rosa, and Titian alongside those of lesser-known masters. [link]

Milwaukee Art Museum: "Of Heaven and Earth: 500 Years of Italian Painting from Glasgow Museums" (Ends January 4, 2015); 700 N. Art Museum Drive, Milwaukee, WI; (414) 224-3200; mam@mam.org

U.S. Supreme Court Clears Way for Gay Marriage in 5 States

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By Adam Liptak

WASHINGTON, DC---The Supreme Court on Monday denied review in all five pending same-sex marriage cases, clearing the way for such marriages to proceed in Indiana, Oklahoma, Utah, Virginia and Wisconsin. The move was a major surprise and suggests that the justices are not going to intercede in the wave of decisions in favor of same-sex marriage at least until a federal appeals court upholds a state ban. [link]

Supreme Court Adds Gay Marriage to Sept. 29 Agenda

INDIANAPOLIS STAR
By Mike Chappell

WASHINGTON, DC---The Supreme Court has scheduled same-sex marriage cases from five states for consideration at its Sept. 29 private conference, indicating no hesitation to dive right into the national debate. The justices placed cases from Utah, Oklahoma, Virginia, Indiana and Wisconsin on the list for their first conference of the 2014 term. By scheduling all for consideration simultaneously, the justices gave equal footing to the Indiana and Wisconsin cases just decided last week by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit. The 10th and 4th Circuits previously ruled in the other cases. The court could agree to hear one or more cases this winter; deny them all, or delay its decision for a while. [link]

Gay-Marriage Bans Fall In Wisconsin and Indiana

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By Erick Eckholm

INDIANA---Only nine days after hearing arguments in the case, a federal appeals court in Chicago declared the bans on same-sex marriage in Indiana and Wisconsin to be unconstitutional on Thursday, adding to the list of marriage cases that could wind up before the Supreme Court in the year ahead. “The grounds advanced by Indiana and Wisconsin for their discriminatory policies are not only conjectural; they are totally implausible,” said the unanimous opinion by a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, as it confirmed lower-court decisions that reversed marriage restrictions in the two states. “We’ll see that the governments of Indiana and Wisconsin have given us no reason to think they have a ‘reasonable basis’ for forbidding same-sex marriage,” Judge Posner wrote near the opening of the 40-page opinion. The argument that allowing same-sex marriage will somehow undermine the protection of children in heterosexual marriages, the court said, “is so full of holes that it cannot be taken seriously.” [link]

The Artists' Lab: Finding Judaism Through Artist Salons

TWIN CITY DAILY PLANET
By Susan Weinberg, TC Jewfolk

The 'Torah Kittel' from Jacqueline Nicholls'skittel collection. Photo courtesy of Jacqueline Nicholls.

WISCONSIN---A trend has developed in recent years within Jewish communities of artist salons – a way to bring artists together to make art specifically through a Jewish lens. With the help of a grant from the Covenant Foundation a Jewish artist salon sprouted in the Twin Cities, as well as nearby cities of Milwaukee and Madison. The Artists’ Lab is an initiative of Sabes JCC interrelating art and Jewish text. Bringing together 25 local artists plus an artist-in-residence, the Lab is an exploration of Judaism through an artistic perspective. [link]

Jewish Educator, Jody Hirsh Uses Art to Stoke Fire of Jewish Spirituality

JOURNAL-SENTINEL
By Annysa Johnson

Jody Hirsh speaks to audience members following a recent performance of
Milwaukee Repertory Theater’s “The History of Invulnerability,” to which Hirsh was a consultant.

WISCONSIN---Jody Hirsh pulls a copy of the Tanakh, the Hebrew Bible, from a shelf in his overstuffed office. He turns to the Book of Jeremiah and recites what may be his favorite passage in scripture. In it, the prophet laments that he cannot help but speak the name of the Lord, though it causes him "constant disgrace and contempt." Hirsh can relate. A Jewish educator, award-winning playwright and musician, Hirsh sees artists as the "prophets of our day." And like Jeremiah, he said, the urge to create, to speak, to be heard, burns — to quote Jeremiah — "like a raging fire" in the heart and bones, regardless of the consequences. "I think that is the artistic impulse," said Hirsh, who employs the arts extensively in his role as Judaic educator at the Harry & Rose Samson Family Jewish Community Center in Whitefish Bay. "It's the fire in your bones that has to come out." [link]

Helene Fischman's "Art From the Ashes" Opens Tonight at Golda Meir Library in Wisconsin

EXPRESS-MILWAUKEE

WISCONSIN---The opening reception for Art from the Ashes: Finding Light in the Shadow of the Shoah will be held in the Fourth Floor Exhibition Gallery of the Golda Meir Library on Wednesday, February 19, 2014, from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. The exhibit features the work of visual artist Helene Fischman, a noted Bay-area artist and educator, and currently an MFA candidate in the UWM Department of Art & Design, who established "artist residencies" for herself in former Nazi territory, making former concentration camps her studio. UWM Golda Meir Library: "Art from the Ashes: Finding Light in the Shadow of the Shoah" (Ends May 30); 2311 E. Hartford Ave, Milwaukee, WI; 414-229-4785; www4.uwm.edu [link]

Chazen Museum's Mithila Painting Shows How Adaptable a Traditional Hindu Art Form Can Be

THE DAILY PAGE
By Jennifer Smith

The focus is on line, color and filling the entire picture space. Credit:Chazen Museum of Art

WISCONSIN---It's been a strong year of exhibitions for the UW's Chazen Museum of Art, and there is a little time left to catch one of its most intriguing and unexpected offerings. "Mithila Painting: The Evolution of an Art Form" (through Dec. 1) features a style of painting that's unfamiliar to many. But even if it's new to you, you'll quickly be drawn in by intricate, stylized works with themes ranging from Hindu deities to contemporary social and political issues. [link]

Chazen Museum of Art: "Mithila Painting: The Evolution of an Art Form" (Ends Dec. 1); 750 University Ave; Madison, WI; 608-263-2246; chazen.wisc.edu

Milwaukee Exhibition Takes on Myths About American Muslims

JOURNAL SENTINEL 
By Annysa Johnson

The Milwaukee Public Library is one of six libraries across the country to host an exhibit on Muslim art, as well as books about Muslim culture.

WISCONSIN---So, here are a few things you might not know about Islam: It has a long history in the Americas, arriving with slaves from West Africa as early as the 1600s. One of the bestselling poets in America over the last decadeis the 13th century Muslim mystic Jalaluddin Rumi. Those are just some of the revelations to emerge from a collection of books and other materials now available at hundreds of libraries across the country, under a program financed by the American Library Association and the National Endowment for the Humanities. But two local libraries, Milwaukee Public Library's downtown branch and the Golda Meir Library at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, are taking readers further, with an exhibit and programs exploring Islam in the arts and the American Muslim experience. [link]

Buddhist Monks Create a Reminder of "Impermanence" — One Grain of Sand at a Time

JOURNAL SENTINEL
By Meg Jones

Tibetan monks Kunzang Gyatso (left) and Jampel Gyatso work on a sand mandala,

WISCONSIN---On Sunday a group of Tibetan monks from Drepung Gomang Monastery began the sand artwork called a mandala at an Asian art and handicraft shop near Spring Green. The monks plan to finish it Saturday. Then they'll do something baffling to most viewers. On Sunday the monks will perform a ceremony to destroy the mandala and throw the colored sand into the Wisconsin River.  Creating a mandala is a form of meditation and concentration. As millions of grains of sand are painstakingly placed on a board, the mandala is considered an imaginary palace to be contemplated by the monks wielding their copper funnels, said Tseten. [link]

Chinese Christian Artist, He Qi at Wisconsin's Linden Gallery

GREENBAY PRESS GAZETTE

'Do not Be Afraid,' painting by He Qi

WISCONSIN---He Qi, China’s most internationally sought after contemporary Christian artist, [was] at Linden Gallery in Ellison Bay for a “Meet the Artist” event from 2 to 5 p.m. June 29. He Qi’s vibrant, energetic paintings capture biblical scenes in a way that lets the stories tell themselves. The paintings are created using Japanese gouache (tempura) paint in vibrant colors, with some works also painstakingly embroidered into hand-sewn silks of the originals. He Qi’s works will be on display from June 28 through July 31 at Linden Gallery, 12001 Mink River Road (just east of Wisconsin 42), Ellison Bay. [link]