Features

Saintly: Christian Women in Early Modern Europe

Thursday, April 11 2024 - Thursday, May 9 2024

Emile H. Mathis Art Gallery

Saintly: Christian Women in Early Modern Europe, showcases our unique opportunity for students to complete a Master’s Thesis in the form of an exhibition. Saintly explores the relationship between laywomen and holy women from the Christian canon by examining depictions of the Virgin Mary and Women Saints in works from the 16th through 18th centuries. Curated by graduate student Nikki Ranney, this thesis exhibition brings perspective to the religious lives of women during this period and the expectations to which they were subjected.

April 11 through May 9, 2024

Opening Reception: April 11th from 5 to 7pm with curator remarks at 5:30pm

UWM Emile H. Mathis Gallery
Mitchell Hall 170
3203 N. Downer Ave.
Milwaukee, WI 53211

What the Folk? American Objects from the UWM Art Collection

Thursday, April 11 2024 - Thursday, May 9 2024

Emile H. Mathis Art Gallery

Accompanying a course on American Folk Art taught by the UWM Art History Department, What the Folk? explores the terminology and history that have shaped understandings of folk art, self-taught art, Americana, outsider art, and visionary art. It asks which artists and objects are included in such categories, why people have invested in the concept of folk art, and how we can uncover the stories of American artists whose work deserves greater attention, no matter what it is called.

Co-curated by Dr. Kay Wells and Leigh Mahlik

April 11 through May 9, 2024

Opening Reception: April 11th from 5 to 7pm with curator remarks at 5:30pm

UWM Emile H. Mathis Gallery
Mitchell Hall 170
3203 N. Downer Ave.
Milwaukee, WI 53211

John Stiff American Coverlet

John Stiff American Coverlet Object #: 2019.005.16 Carly Neil, Mathis Art Gallery Graduate Student Intern Fall 2023 This coverlet was accessioned into the Mathis Gallery collection in 2019. It was woven in 1843 by John Stiff in Milford, Pennsylvania. It… Read More

Insignificant Things in the Archives of Atlantic Slavery

Thursday, March 28 2024 4:30pm - 6pm

Mitchell 195

Barra Boat

Friends of Art History Lecture

What forms of visual evidence can, and should, one use to materialize and memorialize the history of Atlantic slavery? In this talk, Matthew Rarey argues that this question, far from being a contemporary ethical challenge, was of critical importance to Africans and Indigenous people swept up in the Atlantic traffic of ideas and lives in the early eighteenth century. Critically analyzing a series of surreptitious and visually benign objects contained or referenced in colonial archives in Brazil and Portugal, Rarey suggests that mapping the visual culture of Atlantic slavery ethically requires engaging objects produced as challenges to, and archives of, their makers’ experiences of displacement and diaspora.

Matthew Rarey
Matthew Rarey

Associate Professor of African and Black Atlantic Art History
Chair of Art History
Oberlin College and Conservatory

Matthew Rarey researches and teaches the art history of the Black Atlantic, with a focus on connections between West Africa, Brazil, and Portugal from the seventeenth through twenty-first centuries. His research looks to visual and material culture to centralize Africans’ contributions to histories of slavery, racial formation, religion, and commodity exchange.

Thursday, March 28, 2024
Mitchell Hall 195
4:30-6pm

Co-sponsors:

African and African Diaspora Studies, Anthropology, C21 and History

Event Flyer

Juliao Street Vendor

“Unveiling Black Milwaukee: Perspectives on Music, Art, and Sports” panel

Wednesday, February 21 2024 6:30pm - 7;45PM

Lubar Entrepreneurship Center

Please join the Department of African and African Diaspora Studies for “Unveiling Black Milwaukee: Perspectives on Music, Art, and Sports” on February 21st, 6:30-7:45pm in the Lubar Entrepreneurship Center. Panelists include Dr. Kidiocus King Carroll, Assistant Professor in AADS; Jamila Benson, Program Director for the Wisconsin Black Historical Society; and Dr. Robert “Biko” Baker, Visiting Assistant Professor in AADS and Affiliate Faculty at the Institute for Systems Change and Peace Building. The panel will be followed by a Q&A. Free and open to the public–we hope to see you there

This event is co-sponsored by the Center for Student Experience and Talent, and the Departments of History and Art History.

 

Glass from the Past: An Ancient Roman Amphoriskos in the UWM Art Collection

Katie Batagianis In the ancient Roman world, glass was ubiquitous.  It was used to create jewelry and other ornaments, to form the designs in floor mosaics, and to insulate the famed Roman baths.[1]  It was also an extremely popular material… Read More

Article Features Art History Student Maggie Kennedy

UWM student’s research explores the human mind, World History Magazine Read article

Graduate Student Mirel Crumb Presents at SECAC 2023

Mirel Crumb visiting the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond, VA, during SECAC 2023

Graduate student Mirel Crumb recently presented her ongoing thesis research at SECAC 2023. SECAC is an academic conference that brings together art historians, art educators, museum professionals, and artists. This year’s conference had the theme of Crossroads and was held… Read More

Friends of Art History Meet and Greet

Wednesday, November 15 2023 11:30am - 12:30pm

Mitchell 159

You are invited on Wednesday, November 15 from 11:30am to 12:30pm for an Art History meet and greet in Mitchell Hall 159!

Dear Friends of Art History and Auditors,

Join fellow art lovers and Art History faculty and staff members to learn more about the UWM Art Collection over snacks and coffee. Our Collection and Gallery Director David Pacifico and Academic Curator Leigh Mahlik will be sharing exciting news on recent gifts from our generous donors. We will also discuss plans for the Friends of Art History (FOAH) support group and ways to promote and sustain our programming, including the unveiling of our renewed “Adopt Art” program. If you’re an auditor but not yet an official “Friend,” we would love for you to come and learn more! Information on supporting FOAH is also available here.

Please RSVP by November 13 to arthistory@uwm.edu.

We look forward to seeing you!

Beauty’s Mirror

Fitzgerald's Beauty's Mirror

Emma Alburg Beauty’s Mirror is an intriguing but simple piece. Created by Karen Fitzgerald, a Wisconsin born artist, in 1992, this tondo stands out amongst the many other pieces in the Emile H. Mathis Gallery collection. While working as an… Read More