September 27, 2024 – January 26, 2025
Bernard Perlin was a minority, outsider, gay man, and pursuer of truth, beauty, and justice. Born to Russian Jewish immigrants in 1918, artist-activist Perlin was a talented painter, illustrator, war artist-correspondent, and photographer, who tackled stylistic genres, the horrors of WWII, issues of social justice, and homosexuality with conviction and bravery.
Perlin’s life, in his own words, was a direct path to making art and seeking human connection. He ran in circles that included celebrities like Tennessee Williams, Truman Capote, Gore Vidal, Leonard Bernstein, Liz Smith, Grace Hartigan, David Hockney, and Jerome Robbins. His first commission was created for the legendary movie actor Vincent Price.
Throughout his long, richly varied, well-traveled career, Perlin moved from Social Realism to Magical Realism and worked with the WPA (Works Progress Administration), OWI (Office of War Information), and Life and Fortune magazines among countless others. His art has been collected by major institutions including the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum of Modern Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, Art Institute of Chicago, Pritzker Military Museum & Library, and the Tate.
This exhibit celebrates and brings deserved visibility to an artist who lived passionately and unapologetically against the grain. It explores the benefits and challenges of multi-faceted identities, immigration, and assimilation. Additionally, it delves into historical experiences of persecution and discrimination against minority groups that reflect similar attitudes that are still prevalent today.
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Joseph R. Pabst
Estate of Betty Ann Croen
Linda & Eli Frank
Greater Milwaukee Foundation-Mary A. Tingley Fund
Nina & Richard Edelman
Idy Goodman
Andy & Genina Berger
Leslie Hayes
Megan Holbrook, in tribute to Linda & Eli Frank
Margie & Jon Margolies
Cathy & Randy Nemerovski
Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin
Jen & Jason Rosenberg
We Energies
Anonymous
Michael Briselli & Jeannee Sacken
Chris Gould
The Mandel Group
Jason Steigman & Dori Frankel Steigman
Marley & Gary Stein
Adam Shapiro
Wisconsin LGBT Chamber of Commerce
Against the Grain is curated by Jewish Museum Milwaukee and showcases art from Bernard Perlin’s estate. The exhibition also includes never-before-seen photographs taken by Perlin in 1938 Poland and never-before-seen sketches for OWI propaganda posters.
Images:
(top) Self Portrait as Angel (detail), 1939, pencil on paper, Michael Schreiber Collection
(carousel)
After Long Weeks, 1944, casein tempura, Donald Klein Collection
Sukkot, 1962
Picasso First Night, 1939
(bottom) The Bartender (detail), 1958, oil on canvas, Michael Schreiber Collection