MOWA Publications

No Agenda: Fred Stonehouse is published on the occasion of the exhibition of the same name on view from March 15–June 8, 2025, at the Museum of Wisconsin Art. This unique publication features an essay by Lynda Barry and remarks by Shane McAdams.

Lon Michels: Disrupting Patterns celebrates the life and career of one of Wisconsin’s most distinguished artists with the first major retrospective and the largest exhibition of his work to date. The decision to undertake this project was an easy one for the Museum of Wisconsin Art. Michel’s Neo-Pop figuration with its use of decorative pattern is strikingly original and not as well known as it deserves. Accompanying the artist’s first major retrospective this catalog spans the arc of his career from the early 1980’s to the present day. Even a cursory look at Michel’s forty-year career reveals that the pattern of his life was established from childhood. Echoing the words of Louise Nevelson, for whom Michel’s had worked as a studio assistant in the mid-1980’s, the direction of his life seemed predetermined: he knew he would be an artist. What he did not know was that living would be so hard or filled with tragedy.

Wisconsin natives, Harry James Hanson and Devin Antheus come together to create a photo book and archive of drag history throughout 16 cities across America and 81 legendary queens. Each queen is featured in a portrait photographed by Hanson with floral arrangements created by Antheus. The book includes a foreword and prelude written by fashion icon Miss J Alexander and drag superstar Sasha Velour.

This 240-page, hardcover book accompanies the exhibition of the same name (May 27-August 21, 2022) at MOWA | DTN inside Saint Kate – The Arts Hotel.

A thorough and sensitive examination of the photographer who is rapidly becoming the voice of his generation. Included are essays by Jane L. Aspinwall, curator of photography at the Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg and Molli A. Pauliot, a doctoral candidate at University of Wisconsin–Madison in the Department of Anthropology and member of the Ho-Chunk Nation. The catalogue includes a full translation of Pauliot’s essay into the Ho-Chunk language by Henning Garvin, professor of linguistics at UW–Madison and Ho-Chunk language specialist. Available for purchase in the MOWA Shop.

A vibrantly illustrated 72-page catalogue accompanies the 2022 exhibition of the same name, and includes commentaries by Terry A. Neff and foreword by MOWA Executive Director Laurie Winters.

A beautifully illustrated catalogue accompanied the 2021 exhibition of the same name. The catalogue provides a much-needed history of the Studio Glass movement in Wisconsin from its early days of experimentation on university campuses to the thriving independent studios of artists across the state. Commentaries by Jan Mirenda Smith and Davira S. Taragin.

Essays by Paul Buhle, James P. Danky, and J Tyler Friedman. Published by Museum of Wisconsin Art. This catalogue accompanied an exhibition of the same name (August 8, 2020 – January 3, 2021). This 244-page history showcasing the national role of Wisconsin comics features more than 150 illustrations are by thirty-one renowned comic artists such as Ernie Bushmiller, Al Capp, Will Eisner, Harvey Kurtzman, Peter Poplaski, Steve Rude, and Bill Sanders.

Essays by J Tyler Friedman and John Gurda. Published by the University of Wisconsin Press. This catalogue accompanied an exhibition of the same name (June 1 – September 15, 2019).

This first comprehensive photographic history of the Dells with essays by celebrated Wisconsin historians spans the region’s earliest camera records to works by contemporary photographers. A tourist destination for more than four million visitors a year, the stunning natural landscape has also functioned as a commercial playground.

Essay by Graeme Reid. Published by Museum of Wisconsin Art. This catalogue accompanied an exhibition of the same name (January 19 – March 10, 2019). Thirty paintings from four decades trace Munch’s evolution from pure landscapes to vividly imagined narratives about relationships between humans, animals, and their interactions with the natural world. This interaction plays out on center stage in his dramatic vignettes.

Essays by Susan Friebert Rossen, Judith M. Friebert, and Ewa Devereux. Published by Museum of Wisconsin Art. This catalogue accompanied an exhibition of the same name (August 11–October 7, 2018).

The book celebrates one of Wisconsin’s most distinguished artists and a major donation of artworks to MOWA, making it the primary repository for works across Friebert’s seven-decade career. This donation occasioned the artist’s first retrospective in twenty years and the largest exhibition of his work to date.

Essays by Graeme Reid and Linda Kalof. Published by Museum of Wisconsin Art. This catalogue accompanied an exhibition of the same name (October 13, 2018 – January 13, 2019). Blietz’s recent body of work Herd includes twenty-three paintings and drawings plus preparatory works that reveal the artist’s creative process. An underpinning of geometry and semi-abstraction infuse his large-scale paintings with an aura of barnyard chic.

Essays by Debra Brehmer, J Tyler Friedman, and Laurie Winters. Published by Museum of Wisconsin Art. This catalogue accompanied an exhibition of the same name (March 25 – June 4, 2017).

Expert in a number of roles—teacher, philosopher, curator of photography, urban design critic—Bamberger is first and foremost a photographer of national significance. This full-color catalogue marks his first major retrospective and his recent gift to MOWA of almost four hundred photographs.

Essays by Jennifer Farley Gordon, Sarah Anne Carter, and Natalie Wright, and photography by Lois Bielefeld. Published by Museum of Wisconsin Art. This catalogue accompanied an exhibition of the same name (June 11, 2017 – October 8, 2018).

This full-color catalogue chronicles the history of the ongoing Florence Eiseman brand. She and her company not only created high-end clothing for children, but at the outset helped to redefine the mid-century postwar child in America and prompt meaningful dialogue about the nature of childhood.

Essays by Glenn Adamson and Graeme Reid. Published by Museum of Wisconsin Art. This catalogue accompanied an exhibition of the same name (October 7, 2017 – January 14, 2018).

Sixty full-color pages offer the most extensive look to date at Grimm’s sculpture. The heroic scale of Grimm’s fairytale figures is simply mesmerizing.

Essay by Graeme Reid. Published by Museum of Wisconsin Art. This catalogue accompanied an exhibition of the same name (October 1, 2016 – January 15, 2017).

Lenz’s passionate and intimate depictions of inner-city children, people with disabilities, and rural farmers are powerful portraits. His remarkable Photorealist technique helps us to see those on the periphery of society.

Essays by David Travis and Gregory Conniff. Published by Museum of Wisconsin Art. This catalogue accompanied an exhibition of the same name (April 9 – June 19, 2016).

Conniff’s dazzling color images of the reflecting pool at the Olbrich Botanical Gardens in Madison, Wisconsin flirt with abstraction and mark an entirely new vision for the artist. They reveal an unnoticed but magical world.

Essays by Debra Brehmer and Fred Stonehouse. Published by Museum of Wisconsin Art. This catalogue accompanied an exhibition of the same name (September 26, 2015 – January 17, 2016).

Stonehouse is an internationally recognized Neo-Surrealist painter whose enigmatic work is filled with strange, dreamlike characters. This expansive look at his works also offers a glimpse into a mind inhabited by disparate people, places, artwork, literature, and personal experiences.

Essay by Graeme Reid. Published by Museum of Wisconsin Art. This catalogue accompanied an exhibition of the same name (June 13 – September 6, 2015).

For more than seven decades, the American Surrealist Wilde assembled and kept for himself a collection of his paintings and drawings. This book presents this deeply personal trove of works that were especially meaningful to the artist.

Essays by Debra Brehmer, Rachele Krivichi, Dan Leers, and Graeme Reid. Published by Museum of Wisconsin Art. This catalogue accompanied an exhibition of the same name (April 11 – June 7, 2015).

Shimon and Lindemann blended old and new photographic techniques in images that respond to Wisconsin as both a place and a state of mind. This book marks their first museum retrospective and the largest mid-career exhibition of their compelling, at times melancholy, work.

Essays by Glenn Adamson, Laurie Beth Clark, Jenni Sorkin, Michelle Grabner, and Fo Wilson. Published by Museum of Wisconsin Art. This catalogue accompanied an exhibition of the same name (October 3, 2014 – January 11, 2015).

Internationally recognized craft artist Loeser injects humor into his technically accomplished furniture, transforming wood and paint into something simultaneously familiar, peculiar, intriguing, and beguiling.