Fall 2026 Exhibitions in the Emile H. Mathis Gallery
The Emile H. Mathis Gallery is excited to announce our exhibitions for Fall 2026.
The exhibitions will be on view through Thursday, November 5, 2026. The Mathis Gallery is open Monday through Thursday, 10:00am to 2:00pm (except during University breaks and unscheduled closures).
Romancing the Stones: British and French Romantic Prints from the UWM Art Collection
A transformative set of cultural movements, now referred to as Romanticism, emerged in Europe in the 1790s and continued to resonate for decades. Although challenging to define, Romanticism was grounded in an explosion of knowledge and self-discovery. This new focus on individual experience led to a multitude of experimentation in visual art. Romantic artists were particularly drawn to the Sublime – the awe-inspiring power of nature – and the Picturesque – a calm but rugged representation that embodies the effects of time and the interaction of human-made and natural elements.
Romancing the Stones examines the ways that French and British printmakers of the Romantic era used land and landscape to explore themes of temporality, uncertainty, loss, and longing. These romantic landscapes often feature wide vistas, historic buildings dripping with a sense of nostalgia and temporality, and a subtle balance of serenity and wild nature layered together.
What Is A Print?
Prints – images made through a process of transferring ink from one surface to another – have for two millennia been rich sources of expressive exploration and crucial to the global circulation of images. Until the late-twentieth century, most people experienced visual art primarily through prints. What Is A Print? surveys some of the major print processes represented in the UWM Art Collection, including seminal printmakers like Albrecht Dürer, Rembrandt van Rijn, Francisco Goya, and Pablo Picasso. By illuminating some of the complex technical details of printmaking, the exhibition will enable viewers to consider the creative, technical, financial, and social contexts that have shaped its history.