Grohmann Museum 5th Anniversary
| Published: 10/16/2012 |
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Friday, Oct. 19, 5-9 p.m.
The Grohmann Museum will be open for Milwaukee’s Gallery Night and Joe Rondinelli, lead designer at Rexnord, will present the Grohmann Museum with a gift from Rexnord of a 1918 drawing of the Falk facility at 6:30 p.m. The evening also will feature a gallery talk with Dr. Eckhart Grohmann, MSOE Regent.
“The Falk Company” is an ink and gouache drawing done by F. Otto Becker (1854-1945) in 1918. The original drawing was likely a piece used for lithographic reproduction. Becker is known primarily for his paintings from which prints were made, especially one titled “Custer’s Last Stand,” 1895. More than a million copies were made and distributed in an advertising campaign by Anheuser-Busch Brewery. Becker was born in Dresden, Germany, and arrived in the United States in 1873. He worked briefly in Boston and St. Louis before settling in Milwaukee.
The Falk Company has a long history, beginning when Herman Falk, who had an interest in mechanics, decided to start his own business and began producing wagon axles. Falk began working with electric street railways in 1888 and developed a portable cast welding machine on wheels that would earn his share of work in the rail industry. His invention helped him incorporate the Falk Manufacturing Company on May 23, 1895. Falk broadened his work by opening gear shops. The brand eventually expanded worldwide and became part of the Rexnord family in 2005.
“The Falk Company” is the third gift the Grohmann Museum has received from local industry. The first was a 1930s five-piece gouache set from Rexnord, and the second was a painting from Modern Equipment Co. The Grohmann Museum is home to Man at Work, the world’s largest art collection dedicated to the evolution of human work. Given the museum’s focus, and MSOE’s longstanding ties to business and industry, the Grohmann Museum is a natural place for companies to gift their historical art pieces.
Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 20-21
The Grohmann Museum continues its fifth anniversary celebration throughout the weekend with free admission and tours. The museum is open Saturdays from Noon to 6 p.m. and Sundays from 1
to 4 p.m. Guests are encouraged to visit three floors of galleries where the art collection is displayed, as well as a spectacular rooftop sculpture garden. The Man at Work art collection comprises more than 900 paintings and sculptures dating from 1580 to the present. They reflect a variety of artistic styles and subjects that document the evolution of organized work. In addition to the core collection, the museum also presents special exhibitions. Currently on display are MSOE at Work: Selections from the Campus Archives and Carl Spitzweg’s The Poor Poet, one of the museum’s latest acquisitions.
The Grohmann Museum is located at MSOE, an independent, non-profit university with about 2,500 students. MSOE offers 18 bachelor’s degrees and nine master’s degrees in the engineering, engineering technology, building and infrastructure engineering, health-related engineering, computer, business and nursing fields.