‘Predecessor: Works from the Layton School of Art’ at MIAD

In 1920, Charlotte Partridge and Miriam Frank opened the Layton School of Art in the basement of the Frederick Layton Art Gallery in downtown Milwaukee. The school flourished and eventually relocated to a building on Prospect Avenue in 1953. Along the way they laid the foundation of the Milwaukee art world and did so in reciprocity and dialogue with an exploding international movement of Modern art and culture. 

Some of us remember the school, which closed in 1974, and others are aware of its profound legacy, but a growing number of newcomers in the Milwaukee scene seem to have a fading sense of how much of the solid ground on which they create is owed to Layton. Thankfully “Predecessor: Works from the Layton School of Art” running through December 8 in the Layton Galleries at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design presents a running account of its influence and production. 

The exhibition progresses chronologically through the school’s decades of operation. In doing so it functions as a time capsule for both the individual artists at the school and the movements they represented as history unfurled in their laps. With its pedagogical roots in German Expressionism and the multidisciplinary style of the Bauhaus, Layton was ahead of its time in the United States, and the consistency of variety in the exhibition reflects this enthusiasm.

Graphic Design

The work of the 1920’s features a medley of graphic design from the period, including Rudy Wendelin, most famous for his Smokey-the-Bear ad campaign produced on behalf of the United States Forest Service. It’s a shining example of a world where fine art and corporate design were once happily married but have since amicably divorced. The wall representing art from the 1930’s provides descriptive text about the WPA as well as art inspired by it, notably wood cuts of workers by Mietzi Bleck that sharply recall the gritty romance of that fraught moment. Progressing through decades we see paintings by Karl Priebe from the ‘40s and a sensational Joseph Friebert painting from the ‘50s reflecting America’s and the Western World’s transition from sooty industrial naiveté, to a post–industrial, and service-oriented era that would see both commerce and art evolve into their own separate industrial complexes, with independent rules, instrumentalities, and professionalized administrative systems. These circumstances, if not explicitly responsible for the eventual end of the school, were symbolic of what its ending signified in the post-modern art world. 

Despite having disappeared decades ago, the exhibition still blesses us with some brilliant contemporary exponents of the school’s ongoing legacy: a typically stunning painting by Tom Uttech of the faunally kinetic Northwoods, and designer and illustrator Lois Ehlert’s pared down characters from children’s books which remind us of the brilliance of form, simplicity, and the elegance of language. The yawning differences between these two artists’ individual perspectives underscore the enduring value of this show, this moment in time, and the unique educational coil represented by the school.

 Layton was a place, on top of a time, injected into spongy, wide-eyed students that ignited an incalculable amount of individualized visual offerings. The hand of the moment was there, of course; social beings will always coalesce into groups of friends, that become movements, that become periods of art. But the grainy, particular variety in this dense collection of work from the 1920s through the ‘70s at the Layton School tells us something meaningful about what we’ve gained and lost from our hyper-networked moment; feedback loops and social media homogenize society now where classrooms once stirred ideas, stuff, and people together.

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Event Listings: October 15– October 21, 2023

Milwaukee Art Museum

• Drop-In Art Making: Kohl’s Art Studio
• Sunday, October 15, 10 a.m.–4 p.m.

Milwaukee Art Museum

• Family Sundays/Domingo Familiar: Día de los Muertos
• Sunday, October 15, 10 a.m.–4 p.m.

Milwaukee Art Museum

• Drop-In Tour: Architecture and Collection Highlights
• Sunday, October 15, 2–3 p.m.

Milwaukee Art Museum

• Member Preview Day: “Darrel Ellis: Regeneration”
• Thursday, October 19, 10 a.m.–8 p.m.

Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design (MIAD)

• Opening Reception: “Here and Now: Work from MIAD Faculty”
• Thursday, October 19, 6–8 p.m.

Aquae Nguvu (Marshall Building, 207 E. Buffalo St., Suite 130)

• “Being Here,” Recent work by Kristine Hinrichs
• Friday, October 20, 4–9 p.m.

Beingnau Gallery (159 N. Jackson St., Suite 102)

• “Two Years Later,” Works by Brian Nau
• Friday, October 20, 4–9 p.m.

Brian Breider Gallery (Marshall Building, Suite 524)

• “Far Off”
• Friday, October 20, 4–9 p.m.

Gallery 218 (Marshall Building, Suite 218)

• “Fall Showcase”
• Friday, October 20, 4–9 p.m.

Urbaine Oasis Spa (231 Buffalo St., Suite 506)

• “Group Show”
• Friday, October 20, 4–7 p.m.

Material Studios + Gallery

• 6900+ Square Feet of Art
• Friday, October 20, 4–9 p.m.

Warehouse Art Museum

• Gallery Night
• Friday, October 20, 4–9 p.m.

Integration Healing/Alivo Integral (316 N. Milwaukee Ave. Suite 325)

• “Bits and Pieces,” Works by Bob Kelpine
• Friday, October 20, 5–8 p.m.

Italian Community Center (631 E. Chicago St.)

• An Evening with Laura Easy-Jones, Arthur Colo, and Michelangelo
• Friday, October 20, 5–9 p.m.

Lela Boutique (321 N. Broadway)

• Edessa School of Fashion Presentation
• Friday, October 20, 5–8 p.m.

Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design (MIAD)

• Opening Reception: “Here and Now: Work from MIAD Faculty”
• Friday, October 19, 5–9 p.m.

Lily Pad West (215 N. Broadway)

• “Impressions”
• Friday, October 20, 5–8 p.m.

NO Studios (1037 W. McKinley Ave.)

• Gallery Night
• Friday, October 20, 5–9 p.m.

Pamela Anderson Studios + Gallery

• “New Works”
• Friday, October 20, 5–9 p.m.

Oil, a City Gallery (Marshall Building, 1st floor)

• Fall Salon
• Friday, October 20, 5–9 p.m.

Sadler Gallery (Marshall Building Suite 200)

• Frank Kozik American Graphic Artist
• Friday, October 20, 5–9 p.m.

Tory Foliard Gallery

• Opening Reception: Mark Mulhern, “Under the Sun”
• Friday, October 20, 5–8 p.m.

Vino, Third Ward (219 E. Erie St.)

• “Color + Composition,” Stacy M. Stewardson
• Friday, October 20, 5–9 p.m.

Wicked Alley (317 N. Broadway, lower level)

• “An Extraterrestrial Adventure”
• Friday, October 20, 5–9 p.m.

Wallwriting Gallery (316 N. Milwaukee St., Suite 438)

• “The Art of Real Life”
• Friday, October 20, 5–9 p.m.

Holly Harris Studios

• Open Studio
• Friday, October 20, 5:30–9 p.m.

MARN Art + Culture Hub

• “Chicano Power!”
• Friday, October 20, 6–10 p.m.

Saint Kate, The Arts Hotel

• AIR Open Studio
• Friday, October 20, 6–9 p.m.

Saint Kate, The Arts Hotel

• Opening Reception: Erik Benson, “A Happy Place”
• Friday, October 20, 6–9 p.m.

Saint Kate, The Arts Hotel

• Opening Reception: Donna Ruff, “Focal Point
• Friday, October 20, 6–9 p.m.

Urbaine Oasis Spa (231 E. Buffalo St., Suite 506)

• “Group Show”
• Saturday, October 21, 9 a.m.–3 p.m.

Milwaukee Art Museum

• Drop-In Art Making: Kohl’s Art Studio
• Saturday, October 21, 10 a.m.–2 p.m.

Italian Community Center

• An Evening with Laura Easy-Jones, Arthur Colo, and Michelangelo
• Saturday, October 21, 10 a.m.–2 p.m.

Beingnau Gallery (159 N. Jackson St., Suite 102)

• “Two Years Later,” Works by Brian Nau
• Saturday, October 21, 10 a.m.–4 p.m.

MARN Art + Culture Hub

• Chicano Power!
• Saturday, October 21, 10 a.m.–4 p.m.

Material Studios + Gallery

• 6900+ Square Feet of Art
• Saturday, October 21, 10 a.m.–4 p.m.

Pamela Anderson Studios + Gallery

• “New Works”
• Saturday, October 21, 10 a.m.–4 p.m.

Lela Boutique (321 N. Broadway)

• Edessa School of Fashion Presentation
• Saturday, October 21, 10 a.m.–6 p.m.

Lily Pad West (215 N. Broadway)

• “Impressions”
• Saturday, October 21, 10 a.m.–6 p.m.

Milwaukee Art Museum

• Story Time in the Galleries
• Saturday October 21, 10:30–11 a.m.

Integration Healing/Alivo Integral (316 N. Milwaukee Ave. Suite 325)

• “Bits and Pieces,” Works by Bob Kelpine
• Saturday, October 21, 11 a.m.–2 p.m.

Wallwriting Gallery

• “The Art of Real Life”
• Saturday, October 21, 11 a.m.–2 p.m.

Integration Healing/Alivo Integral

• “Bits and Pieces,” Works by Bob Kelpine
• Saturday, October 20, 11 a.m.–2 p.m.

Sadler Gallery

• Frank Kozik American Graphic Artist
• Saturday, October 21, 11 a.m.–3 p.m.

The Starling (102 N. Water St.)

• Exhibition of Local Artists
• Saturday, October 21, 11 a.m.–3 p.m.

Oil, a City Gallery (Marshall Building, 1st floor)

• Fall Salon
• Saturday, October 21, 11 a.m.–4 p.m.

Tory Foliard Gallery

• Opening Reception: Mark Mulhern, “Under the Sun”
• Saturday, October 21, 11 a.m.–4 p.m.

Wicked Alley

• “An Extraterrestrial Adventure”
• Saturday, October 21, 11 a.m.–6 p.m.

Vino, Third Ward

• “Color + Composition,” Stacy M. Stewardson
• Saturday, October 21, 12–4 p.m.

Aquae Nguvu

• “Being Here,” Recent work by Kristine Hinrichs
• Saturday, October 21, 12–5 p.m.

Brian Breider Gallery (Marshall Building, 207 E. Buffalo St. Suite 524)

• “Far Off”
• Saturday, October 21, 12–2 p.m.

Gallery 218

• “Fall Showcase”
• Saturday, October 21, 12–5 p.m.

Holly Harris Studios

• Open Studio
• Saturday, October 21, 12–3 p.m.

Real Tinsel

• Indie LaLonde: Pairing Event
• Saturday, October 21, 4 p.m.

Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design (MIAD)

• “Here and Now: Work from MIAD Faculty”
• Saturday, October 21, 5–9 p.m.

Wilson Center, Ploch Gallery

• Opening Reception: Susan Falkman/Barbara Manger, “Between the Earth and Sky”
• Saturday, October 21, 6–8:00 pm.

Milwaukee Art Museum

• Art:Forward Gala
• Saturday, October 21, 6–10 p.m.