SEPTEMBER
Wisconsin Landscape 

Painting during the 1930 Great Depression, John Steuart Curry art often featured wide, open natural environments with advancing storms to illustrate us as vulnerable people at the mercy of those things more powerful than we. Wisconsin Landscape offers the theme of seeding and growth and provides signs of hope for those who struggle.

OCTOBER
Improvisation 31
(Sea Battle)

Well-educated Wassily Kandinsky earned a doctorate equivalent degree in law and economics, and a position as a university professor. He was also accomplished on the piano and cello. Improvisation 31 (Sea Battle) presents the chaos and motion of a sea battle through the use of color and lines.

The Blind Girl  NOVEMBER

John Everett Millais was inspired by poems and their ability to tell stories. The Blind Girl is meant to be social commentary on poverty and disabilities, using an allegory of senses to evoke an emotional response from the viewer. 

Madonna of the Chair   DECEMBER

Raphael Sanzio is commonly known by only his first name. He received an excellent artistic training during the High Renaissance and was considered a master at the age of eighteen. Madonna of the Chair speaks of an affectionate relationship as Mary cuddles her baby. 

George Washington, The Athenaeum  JANUARY

Gilbert Stuart caught the attention of President and Mrs. George Washington in 1795 and quickly secured a commission to paint their portraits. George Washington, The Athenaeum was chosen to be placed on the one dollar bill (in reverse image) because it captured the dignity of the first president. 

The Boy Lincoln  FEBRUARY

Eastman Johnson became known as the American Rembrandt for his photorealism painting ability and his use of light. Lincoln never posed for The Boy Lincoln. Rather, Johnson created several paintings where children were reading or writing predicting the future success of these intellectually engaged youth.

Little Miss Muffet  MARCH

Jessie Willcox Smith was a sought-after and prolific illustrator for a wide variety of magazines and books including Little Women (1915) and Heidi (1922). Little Miss Muffet was painted for the 1913 cover of Good Housekeeping magazine and illustrates the nursery rhyme, Little Miss Muffet.

The Broncho Buster  APRIL

Fredric Remington was an illustrator, sculptor, author and teacher who presented the world with images of the American West. Remington used photographs and sketches to capture The Broncho Rider, which is one of his most recognizable bronze sculptures with three-hundred authorized casts created.

I Wait   
MAY

India-born Julia Margaret Cameron taught herself everything about the newly invented camera medium and photo development. She often took photographs of children, mimicking Renaissance imagery. I wait was inspired by a poem of her friend, Lord Alfred Tennyson. 

The Torn Hat   
JUNE

Thomas Sully carefully maintained a logbook recording all of his two-thousand, thirty lifetime commissions as a portrait painter. Sully’s nine year-old son posed for The Torn Hat which is considered an informal study as identified with the loose application of paint and the quickness in which it was rendered.