The Milwaukee Art Museum’s current feature exhibition, Milwaukee Collects, includes more than 100 objects from nearly 50 private collections in the Greater Milwaukee area. It offers an opportunity to see treasures that are typically not on public view. At the same time, it reminds us that the Milwaukee Art Museum’s collection is part of a long tradition of collecting in the community. This is the third in a series of blog posts that will explore the provenance of selected artworks in the collection and how they came to be here.

Jan Hendrik Weissenbruch (Dutch, 1824–1903), Low Tide at Zeeland, Scheveningen, ca. 1900. Oil on wood panel. Milwaukee Art Museum, Gift of the Samuel O. Buckner Collection M1919.28. Photo credit: John R. Glembin.

As we’ve explored in the past, in many ways the collection of any museum is the result of the interests of its donors. Here at the Milwaukee Art Museum, we have outstanding European decorative arts from the Renaissance and Baroque periods due to Richard and Erna Flagg. We can boast of one of the deepest collections of nineteenth century German art in the country because of the generosity of René von Schleinitz. And with the gift from Mrs. Harry Lynde Bradley, we have a world-class collection of twentieth century art.

Today, we’re going to take a closer look at a few of the local collectors of earlier generations that you probably don’t know. Their story is the story of Milwaukee.

And this is just the whirwind tour—some of these historical donors warrant a longer post in the future!

We will start with Samuel O. Buckner (1862–1945), who was instrumental to the art community of early twentieth century Milwaukee. Buckner is sometimes called “the father of the Milwaukee Art Institute,” since he was president of this predecessor institution of the Milwaukee Art Museum from 1910–1926. He even gave the Institute its first painting!

Buckner also served as a trustee for the Layton Art Gallery and the Layton School of Art. Buckner’s day job was Agency Director of the Wisconsin Branch of the New York Life Insurance Company, located in Milwaukee.

What did Samuel O. Buckner collect? He mainly collected paintings by contemporary (of the time) American and Dutch artists. We still have more than 30 objects from Buckner in the collection, including a seaside painting by Jan Hendrik Weissenbruch of The Hague School (above), a painting by the Spanish painter Joaquin Sorolla y Bastida, and American Robert Henri’s Dutch Joe.

Many visitors to the Milwaukee Art Museum would probably say that Waterloo Bridge, Sunlight Effect, our painting by French Impressionst Claude Monet, is their favorite. This important cornerstone of our Impressionist collection was left to the Museum by Mrs. Albert T. Friedmann upon her death in 1950. Although the Monet is the best known piece associated with her name, Mrs. Friedmann left more than 40 objects to us, including prints and portrait miniatures.

Claude Monet (French, 1840–1926). Waterloo Bridge, Sunlight Effect, ca. 1900 (dated 1903). Oil on canvas. Milwaukee Art Museum, Bequest of Mrs. Albert T. Friedmann M1950.3. Photo credit: John R. Glembin.

But just who is Mrs. Albert T. Friedmann? She was born Johanna Schuster in 1870, the daughter of Edward Schuster, the founder of the famous Milwaukee department store known as Schuster’s. The department stores were fixtures in Milwaukee from 1884 until the company was bought out by Gimbels in 1962.

In 1888, Johanna married Albert T. Friedmann [1865–1933], who had joined her father’s business after coming to Milwaukee from Vienna, Austria, in 1883. Friedmann went on to be the president of Schuster’s until he died in 1933. After her husband’s death, Johanna Friedmann lived in their Door County home in Fish Creek.

Mrs. Arthur J. Riebs was another Milwaukee collector who liked French art—in her case, it was French Rococo! Mrs. Riebs not only bought high-quality Sevres that had come from important collections—just one example is the Chestnut Bowl below—but she also was known for her collection of lady’s fans.

Sèvres Porcelain Manufactory (Sèvres, France, established in 1756), painted by Denis Levé (French, active 1754–1805). Covered Chestnut Bowl and Stand (marronière), 1757–58. Soft paste porcelain, vert ground color, polychrome enamels, and gilding
tureen. Bequest of Mrs. Arthur J. Riebs given in memory of her father C.W. George Everhart, and her mother Lillian Boynton Everhart. Photo credit John R. Glembin

Alas, we only have a few of her fans, which were on view at the museum at a number of times during her lifetime. What we do have from the bequest of Mrs. Riebs is a small but choice collection of French porcelain to enjoy.

Mrs. Riebs was born in 1889 in Oshkosh as Noryne Everhart, the daughter of Lillian and C. W. George Everhart. Until 1919, her family ran the Challoner Company, which manufactured “Giant Grip” horseshoes. Her husband, Arthur Riebs, was president of Riebs Co., which dealt with grain. Noryne Riebs died in their home on Layfayette Place in 1958.

Another collector interested in the decorative arts was Dr. Warren E. Gilson (1917–2000). Between 1978 and 1998, Dr. Gilson gave nearly 200 works of European and American silver to the Milwaukee Art Museum.

Paul Revere (American, 1735–1818), Tankard Made into a Pitcher, ca. 1760; spout added 1816. Silver. Milwaukee Art Museum, Gift of Dr. Warren E. Gilson M1995.408. Photo credit: Larry Sanders.

Just a few of the highlights from his collection that are currently on view are a tankard made into a pitcher by Paul Revere (above), a cup in the form of an apple by the Baroque German metalworker Marx Merzenbach, and a three-handled cup with stand by the important American silversmith Gorham Manufacturing Company.

Dr. Gilson was a UW-Madison doctor who began making his own medical instruments before founding a self-named company to distribute them to labs. The company, located in Middleton, Wisconsin, still sells its products around the world.

Arthur Garfield Dove (American, 1880–1946), Sunrise, 1924. Oil on wood. Milwaukee Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. Edward R. Wehr M1960.32. Photo credit: John Nienhuis, Dedra Walls. © The Estate of Arthur G. Dove, courtesy Terry Dintenfass, Inc.

Our final collector is Mrs. Edward R. Wehr (1885–1961). Between 1957 and 1960, she gave almost 40 objects to the Milwaukee Art Museum.

Her collection focused on American paintings, drawings, and prints. The two most important paintings from Mrs. Wehr are Georgia O’Keeffe’s Patio with Cloud and Arthur Garfield Dove’s Sunrise (right).

Mrs. Edward R. Wehr was married to one of the sons of Henry Wehr, who founded the Wehr Steel Company of West Allis in 1910. The company was extremely successful, casting steel parts for machines.

Edward Wehr was the brother of C. Frederick “Todd” Wehr, who left his estate to found the Todd Wehr Foundation. You’ll find his name on many Milwaukee-area projects, such as the Todd Wehr Theater in the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts; the Wehr Nature Center in Whitnall Park; and the Todd Wehr Memorial Library at the Medical College of Wisconsin.

Meissen Porcelain Manufactory (Dresden, Germany, established 1710), Possibly Johann Gregorius Horoldt (German, 1696-1775), Tankard, ca. 1725. Glazed porcelain, polychrome overglaze decoration, gilding, and brass. Milwaukee Art Museum, Gift of the René von Schleinitz Foundation, M1995.2. Photo: John Glembin

[Last month, the Milwaukee Art Museum put on view three important Meissen tankards. Learn more about two of them with this re-posted entry from 2014.]

Previously, we demystified tin-glazed earthenware while putting it into a historical context. In this post, we’ll figure out the magic behind the material that tin-glazed earthenware attempted to fill in for: porcelain.

Introduced to Europe from China in the fourteenth century, porcelain was the most elegant and fascinating of materials. It was pristine, white yet translucent, and although it was thin and light-weight, it was also amazingly strong and durable. In other words, it was everything that tin-glazed earthenware and stoneware was not.

As you might expect, porcelain imported to Europe was very expensive. To reflect its cost, and because it came in vessel shapes that were not used in the West, nobles would buy Chinese porcelain and then mount them in elaborate fittings made of precious metal.

Porcelain was such a sought after material that it was called “White Gold.” The demand was so great that wealthy European collectors started a search to find the secret to making it.

It wasn’t easy. True, hard-paste porcelain requires the inclusion of a special clay called kaolin. But the craftsmen attempting to make it did not know this, so their process was trial and error, using different types of clay in various proportions and fired at a number of temperatures.

To further confuse the issue, there is another type of porcelain, which is called artificial or soft-paste porcelain. Soft-paste porcelains mimics real porcelain by using white clay mixed with ground glass to make it more transparent–it does not have kaolin.

Meissen Porcelain Manufactory (Dresden, Germany, established 1710), Possibly Johann Gregorius Horoldt (German, 1696-1775), Tankard, ca. 1725. Glazed porcelain, polychrome overglaze decoration, gilding, and brass. Milwaukee Art Museum, Gift of the René von Schleinitz Foundation, M1995.2. Photo: John Glembin

The first soft-paste was developed in Florence, Italy, under the patronage of the Medici. Some of these ceramics were made between 1575 and 1587, but after this point the technique was abandoned. Production of soft-paste porcelain began again around 1700 in France.

In England, a variation of soft-paste porcelain is bone china, which was developed by Spode in 1799 when bone ash was added to the ceramic, making it more durable and attractive.

But our focus for this post is German drinking vessels, and it is to Germany that we return, and to one of the most important discoveries in European decorative arts history: how to make hard-paste porcelain.

Kaolin, the special clay needed to make hard-paste porcelain, was finally discovered in Saxony in the late seventeenth century. Augustus the Strong, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, was obsessed with porcelain and purchased large amounts of Chinese and Japanese examples for his palaces in Dresden. He even planned to have one castle, the Japanese Palace, dedicated to showing off his porcelain collections.

Meissen Porcelain Manufactory (Dresden, Germany, established 1710), Possibly Johann Gregorius Horoldt (German, 1696-1775), Tankard, ca. 1725. Glazed porcelain, polychrome overglaze decoration, gilding, and brass. Milwaukee Art Museum, Gift of the René von Schleinitz Foundation, M1995.2. Photo: Catherine Sawinski

But he, like so many rulers in Europe, wanted to be able to make porcelain, not just buy it. When Augustus took over the rule of Saxony in 1694, he promptly put a number of craftsmen to work on the problem. In 1709, J.F. Böttger, who originally was brought to the court as an alchemist (because gold gold was just as desirable as white gold), discovered the mixture required to make porcelain. In 1710, Augustus established the royal factory in Meissen. By 1713, the workers at Meissen were producing porcelain for his collection.

Augustus tried to keep the process a secret, because it both raised his prestige among the rulers of Europe, and meant that he could sell works to other nobles and make some money from it. As a result, Meissen held a near monopoly on porcelain production in Europe for almost 40 years, although workers took the secrets to Vienna to found a factory in 1719. Then, in 1747, workers defected from Vienna and spread the knowledge throughout Germany.

The basics of porcelain production are similar to those used with other ceramics: you can either mold a solid clay or slipcast a liquid clay. Then the object is fired at a low temperature to dry it out.

Once porcelain could be made, it was necessary to figure out how to decorate it. The artist Johann Gregorius Höroldt came to Meissen from the rival Vienna factory and developed a process for enameling porcelain in the early 1720’s. The ware can be decorated under the glaze (usually with cobalt blue) or painted with bright enamel colors over the first glaze, with a second firing to fix the enamel.

Meissen Porcelain Manufactory (Dresden, Germany, established 1710), Possibly Johann Gregorius Horoldt (German, 1696-1775), Tankard, ca. 1725. Glazed porcelain, polychrome overglaze decoration, gilding, and brass. Milwaukee Art Museum, Gift of the René von Schleinitz Foundation, M1995.2. Photo: Catherine Sawinski

Porcelain can also be fired at high temperature without a glaze, which is called biscuit porcelain, or bisque. It was more expensive because imperfections could not be hidden under the decorative glaze.

In the earliest years of production, only the best porcelain for the royal family was decorated by the Meissen factory itself. Everything else, called a blank, was sold to hausmalers who decorated in their homes, just as was the case with tin-glazed earthenware.

Two types of porcelain wares were made by the royal factory. Sculptural figurines in porcelain were used to replace temporary sugar sculptures made for banquet table decorations (using a luxury like sugar for pure decoration was the ultimate in decadence). Tableware for serving and eating were also made in porcelain.

We are lucky enough to have two early Meissen tankards in the collection. They exemplify two different trends in early eighteenth century porcelain decoration.

The first tankard (above images) has a finely-painted chinoiserie scene, which means that it takes its inspiration from Chinese art. A large group of people in Chinese dress and exotic animals take part in what looks like a formal ceremony of some sort, with musicians and a procession. The animals include monkeys and dogs that look suspiciously like dachshunds in sweaters. In the background is a harbor scene with buildings in the distance.

The main scene is contained in a cartouche that is then surrounded by elaborate tendrels and flowers in gold. On either side of the main image are two smaller figures: on one side, a man smokes an opium pipe while a woman pours tea, and on the other a man interacts with exotic birds.

We know that in 1728, a number of tankards decorated like this were painted at Meissen by Johann Gregor Höroldt, with luster designs in the manner of Johann Freidrich Böttger. They were made for Augustus the Strong to send to the Russian imperial family in exchange for animals for his live menagerie. Although there is no way to know which tankards were included in that gift, it’s clear that the design was popular.

Other examples of tankards decorated in the style are in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the V&A in London. Some of Horoldt’s original drawings still exist.

On either sides of the handle are scattered motifs from nature: bugs and shells. These were very likely taken from Joris Hoefnagel’s Archetypa Studiaque Patris Georgii Hoefnagelii, 1592, which was republished in the early eighteenth century. Meissen works of this date were known to have used elements from these prints, which were a treasure-trove of designs.

Our second Meissen tankard takes its theme from the classical past. The god of wine, Bacchus, sits upon a barrel wearing only grape vines and lifts a glass of wine in salute to the viewer. For a vessel used to drink an alcoholic beverage, this is very appropriate.

Meissen Porcelain Manufactory (Dresden, Germany, established 1710), Tankard, 1725–35. Glazed porcelain, polychrome overglaze decoration, and silver. Milwaukee Art Museum, Gift and Bequest of René von Schleinitz and the René von Schleinitz Foundation, M1995.1. Photo: John R. Glembin

The other two scenes on this tankard, however, show the darker side of the bucholic rendering of the cheery god on the front.

On one side, two men in eighteenth century dress fight violently. One beats the other with a stick, until his face is bloody. Two glasses, from the same set that Bacchus uses on the front, spill wine on the ground. The connection is clear: drinking can lead to violence.

Meissen Porcelain Manufactory (Dresden, Germany, established 1710), Tankard, 1725–35. Glazed porcelain, polychrome overglaze decoration, and silver. Milwaukee Art Museum, Gift and Bequest of René von Schleinitz and the René von Schleinitz Foundation, M1995.1. Photo: John R. Glembin

The other scene shows the same two men, one standing up holding a wine jug and holding out a full glass, while the other lies on the ground, vomiting. Again, a graphic representation of what too much alcohol will do!

Meissen Porcelain Manufactory (Dresden, Germany, established 1710), Tankard, 1725–35. Glazed porcelain, polychrome overglaze decoration, and silver. Milwaukee Art Museum, Gift and Bequest of René von Schleinitz and the René von Schleinitz Foundation, M1995.1. Photo: John R. Glembin

Meissen Porcelain Manufactory (Dresden, Germany, established 1710), Tankard, 1725–35. Glazed porcelain, polychrome overglaze decoration, and silver. Milwaukee Art Museum, Gift and Bequest of René von Schleinitz and the René von Schleinitz Foundation, M1995.1. Photo: John R. Glembin

Although this must be a warning against over imbibing, it is also a visual joke. As far back as the seventeenth century, genre scenes showing drunken people were popular in northern Europe (this one is particularly illustrative of that!).

As a testament to its quality, Meissen still produces porcelain today. Its reputation means that the distinctive mark of crossed swords in blue glaze has been copied by other manufacturers. First used in 1720, it is one of the oldest trademarks in existence.

Catherine Sawinski is the Assistant Curator of Earlier European Art. When not handling the day-to-day running of the European art department and the Museum’s Fine Arts Society, she researches the collection of Ancient and European artwork before 1900.