MSOE acquires art collection representing history of labor and industry in art
| Published: 04/30/2003 |
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Man at Work: The Eckhart G. Grohmann Collection at
Milwaukee School of Engineering
Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE) announced today the acquisition of a collection of nearly 450 European and American paintings and sculptures that depict various forms of work.
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| Ingot Molds, ca. 1910, rare Meissen porcelain plaque, Georg Haberecht (German). |
Man at Work: The Eckhart G. Grohmann Collection at Milwaukee School of Engineering is one of the world's more comprehensive collections of its kind. The artworks span nearly 400 years of history (17-20th centuries) and comprise a variety of styles and subjects that document the evolution of organized work, from manpower and horsepower to water, steam and electrical power. The works were gifted over the past year from the collection of Milwaukee businessman and collector Dr. Eckhart Grohmann.
Man at Work: The Eckhart G. Grohmann Collection at Milwaukee School of Engineering is the first art collection acquired by the 100-year old university. Some of the works are now displayed in MSOE's Student Life and Campus Center (1025 N. Broadway), which is accessible to the public, and the Alumni Partnership Center (1120 N. Broadway), which is open for special events only.
A 432-page, full-color book has been published and serves as an introduction to the historical context of this extraordinary collection as well as in-depth narrative about the works and the diverse artists who created them.
In discussing his gift, Grohmann identified the similarity between the evolution of work and the pragmatic educational approach of MSOE. While a museum setting would be expected, the choice of a university setting provides students, staff and visitors with a historical context for their own activities as they relate to engineering and business.
"Exposure to this collection will help open students' eyes to the historical evolution of work from its early, modest beginnings and allow them to better understand the roots of today's production processes," said Grohmann.
"The beneficiaries of Dr. Grohmann's generosity are the MSOE students, faculty, staff and all those who will be exposed to this collection through visits to campus or through the book," said MSOE President Hermann Viets, Ph.D. "It will be of ongoing value to all of MSOE."
The earlier paintings depict the early forms of work, such as men and women working on the farm or at home. Later images show tradespeople engaged in their work, such as the blacksmith, chemist, cobbler, cork maker, glass blower and taxidermist. The most recent works are images of machines and men embodying the paradoxes of industrialism of the mid-18th century to post-World War II. These works, often commissioned by the factory's owner, are exterior views of steel mills and foundries surrounded by hefty trains and tracks or dark factory interiors where glowing molten metal is juxtaposed with factory workers and managers.
Most of the paintings are by German and Austrian artists, although others include American, Belgian, Bohemian, Danish, Dutch, English, Hungarian, Flemish, French and Spanish. The collection includes outstanding examples of works by European artists including Flemish painter Marten van Valckenborch (1535-1612), Dutch artists Pieter Brueghel the Younger (1564-1638), Jan Josefsz van Goyen (1596-1656) and Jan Brueghel II (1601-1678), and an oil study by German painter Max Liebermann (1847-1935) that led to his renowned Flax Barn at Laren painting, now at the National Gallery in Berlin.
The collection includes numerous paintings by German artist Erich Mercker (1891-1973) who, working in loose brushwork style, rendered colorful images of steel mills and foundries, bridge- and ship-building, quarries and interior views of factories.
The collection of bronze sculptures captures longshoremen, farmers, miners, foundry workers and other laborers in the process of using the tools of their trades. Artists include Adrien-Etienne Gaudez, Gerhard Adolf Janensch, Constantin-Emile Meunier, Emile Louis Picault, and Americans Malcom Alexander, Max Kalish, Landon Lamb and Frederic Remington.
The Collector
To understand this unique collection, it is helpful to have some background on the collector, Eckhart Grohmann, who grew up visiting his grandfather's large marble processing business and quarry operation in Silesia, Germany. It was there, watching the stonecutters and sculptors select raw material that would soon become a work of art, that he developed his appreciation and admiration of work. To Grohmann, hard work is not an idealized concept but a principle of life.
A successful entrepreneur, Grohmann co-founded Central Control Alarm Corp. in 1980 and developed it into the leading alarm company in Wisconsin before selling it to Ameritech in 1997. He is currently chairman and president of Milwaukee's Aluminum Casting & Engineering Co., a firm he acquired in 1965 and grew from a small foundry of 35 employees to a company ten times that size. It makes high-volume aluminum components for the automotive industry.
He earned a Diplom Kaufmann (MBA) from the University of Mannheim in 1962. He received an honorary Doctor of Engineering degree from MSOE in 1999. Dr. Grohmann has served as an MSOE Corporation member since 1974 and Regent since 1990. He has been collecting works of art since the 1960s.
How will the collection benefit MSOE students
Since MSOE's earliest days, its students were encouraged to participate in extracurricular activities and in the past few decades an even greater emphasis has been placed on the growth of the whole student. While new academic programs have grown, so have social and cultural opportunities, international study programs were established and MSOE's athletics program has expanded (and construction of the new $31 million Kern Center is now underway). The introduction of art onto campus and into the everyday work or study environment is another extension of that commitment to student well being.
The artwork will be incorporated into the classroom, not only in the area of humanities but also the engineering. For example, industrial engineering students in Professor Larry Korta's "Ergonomics" course each picked a painting and discussed not only what visually appealed to them about the work by then analyzed the relationships between people, the work being performed, tools used and the working environment. One student looked at Wedge and Boulder by an anonymous painter in the school of Friedrich Von Keller, which depicts six men trying to move a boulder over rough ground using various levers. The student guessed the mass of the boulder and its load on the bodies of the various men. "Needless to say, they were violating recommended lifting guidelines," said Korta.
Man at Work Book
Man at Work: 400 Years in Painting and Bronzes, Labor and the Evolution of Industry in Art is a full-color book presenting Man at Work: Eckhart G. Grohmann Collection at the Milwaukee School of Engineering. The 432-page, book provides an introduction to the historical context of this extraordinary collection as well as in-depth narrative about the works and the diverse artists who created them. Author Dr. Klaus Türk, sociology professor at the University of Wuppertal, Germany, has studied the man at work theme extensively and wrote Bilder der Arbeit. The book will be available in both English and German. The English language book is currently available through the MSOE Bookstore for $49.95.