The lush, organic forms of Art Nouveau recall the opulence of la Belle Époque in Gay Paree. A delight in the decorative, an interest in the exotic and a fixation with pretty girls swathed in flowing neoclassical clothes all display the optimism of a society that had not yet glimpsed the horrors on the horizon as the 19th became the 20th century.
Alphonse Mucha (1860-1939) was one of the best-known artists of the era. “Alphonse Mucha: Art Nouveau,” at David Barnett Gallery through Jan. 13, 2018, exhibits work by the Czech artist, including double-sided color lithographs from a rare 1897 deluxe edition of “Ilsée Princesse de Tripoli.” Mucha’s work will be installed among and contextualized by illustrations by his peers featured in the Art Nouveau publication L’estampe Moderne.
On Thursday, Nov. 16, from 5:30-6:30 p.m. and Saturday, Nov. 18, 11 a.m.-noon, art historian and recent UW-Milwaukee graduate Rachel Kreiter will give a gallery talk on Mucha and the story of the Princess of Tripoli.
Vet Night of the Arts
Wartburg Theatre
2001 Alford Park Drive
Vet Night of the Arts is committed to a view of the arts as serving both a therapeutic and an educative purpose. The second annual event is produced and performed by veterans and students who have prepared readings, multimedia presentations and visual art works to give the audience insight into the veteran experience and to generate dialogue about how to improve the difficult transition back into civilian life. Veterans at Carthage and the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point will read essays and New York-based actor/activist Stephan Wolfert will present his one-man show CRY HAVOC!, which uses some of Shakespeare’s speeches to examine his six years in the Army and life after. Vet Night of the Arts takes place at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 16.
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“A Road Traveled”
Union Art Gallery
2200 E. Kenwood Blvd., UW-Milwaukee Union Campus Level W199
“A Road Traveled,” Nov. 17-Dec. 14, examines the way that technology has changed the way that we navigate the world. Jon Horvath’s Passages maps Jack Kerouac’s celebrated journey in On the Road onto the Wisconsin landscape using photography and GPS technology. Traveling to the location of geotagged tweets, Nate Larson and Marni Shindelman photograph their findings, lending concreteness to the impersonal words of social media. Joseph Mougel constructs new landscapes using 19th-century photographic technology and Google Maps. “A Road Traveled” opens with a reception from 5-8 p.m., Friday, Nov. 17. The artists will give talks beginning at 7 p.m.
