Wisconsin and beer often seem synonymous. Think Wisconsin beer and Miller will likely come to mind. This brewer, so long a part of Milwaukee and the state’s beer culture, also took a lesser-known pride in our artistic culture, quietly and judiciously assembling a quality art collection that featured many of the state’s finest artists. Mostly hung in corporate offices and buildings, the collection was virtually invisible to the general public. With Wisconsin roots that go back to Frederick Miller who settled in Milwaukee in 1855, many great Wisconsin artists were included in the MillerCoors collection. When the opportunity to find a new home for the collection came about, it was a logical choice for the company to call upon the Museum of Wisconsin Art to evaluate the works and provide a home to some of them. Consequently, MWA Executive Director Tom Lidtke viewed over 1300 works and used his deep experience and knowledge to select some of the best works for accession into the MWA’s permanent holdings. MillerCoors is proud to support and help build Wisconsin’s premier museum collection of Wisconsin art by donating the best work from their corporate collection to MWA.

As a result, the MWA received a gift of 24 works by 19 artists: Nancy Ekholm Burkert, Robert Burkert, Jean Crane, John Colt, Warrington Colescott, David Driesbach, John Earnest, Peggy Thurston Farrell, Earl Kittleson, Francisco X. Mora, Frances Myers, Robert von Neumann, Ida Ozonoff, Howard Schroeter, Marco Spalatin, Helmut Summ, Evelyn Patricia Terry, Arthur Thrall and Tom Uttech. Collectively and individually, these artists have made significant contributions to the artistic culture of the state. Some of the artists were already in our collection, others were new; this gift both expands and adds depth to our holdings. The MWA is delighted to accept them and equally grateful to MillerCoors for recognizing the museum as the logical and rightful home for the best of Wisconsin art.