Current Exhibition

Gil Reid and Friends: Working on the Railroad
Sept. 6 – Dec. 22, 2024

Sometimes called the “railroad industry’s very own Picasso,” Gil Reid’s work ranks among the all-time great railroad art. Gilmore Wiley Reid (1918-2007) was born in St. Louis but, following his service in the Second World War, made his lifelong home in Wisconsin where he practiced as a commercial artist for decades. Reid worked for Kalmbach Publishing in Milwaukee from 1956 to 1978 as assistant art director and illustrator for Trains and Model Railroader magazines. He also created illustrations for Amtrak’s annual calendars from the 1970s to the early '90s, among his other work for books, posters, and prints.

Reid’s longtime friends and collectors, Rita and Chris Burger, have established an archive of his art and Amtrak calendar work at the Grohmann Museum from which this exhibition is drawn. A railroader and rail executive for 39 years, Chris is perhaps best known locally for managing the Chicago & North Western’s Wisconsin Division, where he was the moving force behind the railroad’s “Good Will Ambassador” steam program in the 1980s. Over the course of his career, Chris both collected Reid’s work and commissioned numerous pieces for his annual Christmas cards.

Gil Reid and Friends is a must-see for any railfan. From initial sketches to printed product, the railroad art of this amazing watercolorist will be joined by other images of railroading from the museum’s collection by O. Winston Link, David Plowden and others, including Chris Burger himself.

Be sure to catch this rare display before it leaves the station!

Upcoming Exhibition

January 17 – April 27, 2025
On the Edge: The Labor and Environment of Dimensional Stone Quarries 

Photographs by Michael Schultz
Gallery Night Event—Jan. 17, 5-9 p.m., featuring a Gallery Talk with the Artist at 7 p.m.

We are pleased to once again share Michael Schultz’s photography with our patrons and campus community. Over past 15 years, we have presented his Foundry Work (2010), Forge Work (2015), and his exploration of Electric Steel (2021). The present exhibition represents a departure from the metallurgical industries to focus on yet another industry borne out of the earth—quarry work.

While the thematic focus has changed, what remains consistent through Mike’s work is his treatment of space. Again, he demonstrates a gift for capturing the sheer size and scale of these monumental industrial operations. Over the course of this years-long project, he has visited quarries in Georgia, Illinois, Missouri, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Vermont, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and even Portugal.

Through his work, we are treated to awe-inspiring views of an entire industry, from breaking and drilling to the stone cutters at work in refinement and finishing. The superbly crafted images celebrate the light within while directing our attention to the labor and laborers of heavy industry.

Upcoming Events

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Past Exhibitions

2024

• Crossing the DMZ: A Contemporary Look at Working Women
• Patterns of Meaning: The Art of Industry by Cory Bonnet
• H.D. Tylle at Seventy: American Worklife

2023

• Mining Gems: Stories from the Collection
• Excavations: Paintings and Drawings by Michael Newhall
• David Plowden: The Architecture of Agriculture

2022

• A Time of Toil & Triumph: Selections from the Shogren-Meyer Collection of American Art
• Familias Unidas: Tribute to the Migrant Farm Worker Labor Movement in Wisconsin, 1960s-70s
• Robert O. Lahmann: Working in Wisconsin

2021

• The Railroad and the Art of Place: Photographs by David Kahler 
• artWORK by the League of Milwaukee Artists 
• Electric Steel: Recent Photographs by Michael Schultz 

2020

• TWO EDMUNDS: Fitzgerald and Lewandowski—Their Mark on Milwaukee 
• IRONBOAT: New Photography by Christopher Winters 

2019

• The Magnificent Machines of Milwaukee 
• Roll Up Your Sleeves 
• Growing Place: A Visual Study of Urban Farming 

2018

• David Plowden's Portraits of Work
• Wallace W. Abbey: A Life in Railroad Photography 
• The Art and Mechanics of Animation 

2017

• Masterworks from the Grohmann Museum - Celebrating 10 Years 
• Artists at Work: The Cedarburg Artists Guild 
• STEEL: The Cycle of Industry by David Plowden 

2016

• On the Job: Photography by Jim Seder 
• Milwaukee's Industrial Landscapes: Paintings by Michael Newhall 
• Art of the North Shore Line 

2015

• Forge Work: New Photography by Michael Schultz 
• Metal for Mettle: Historic Commemorative Medals Honoring Labor and Achievement 
• H.D. Tylle: Studies 
• Carl Spitzweg in Milwaukee
• The Art of the Milwaukee Road 

2014

• Erich Mercker: Painter of Industry
• Art Shay: Working 
• Trains that Passed in the Night: Railroad Photographs of O Winston Link 

2013

• A Working Ranch by Jim Brozek 
• Born of Fire: Scenes of Industry from the Westmoreland Museum of American Art 
• Bridges: The Spans of North America - Photographs by David Plowden 

2012

• MSOE at Work: Selections from the Campus Archives 
• Carl Spitzweg: The Poor Poet and Other Characters 
• Great Lakers: Selections from the Great Lakes Marine Collection of the Milwaukee Public Library 
• H. D. Tylle: Touring Germany and Working in Wisconsin 

2011

• Requiem for Steam: The Railroad Photographs of David Plowden 
• Milwaukee Mills: A Visual History 
• Lake Boats: The Photography of Jim Brozek and Christopher Winters 
• Wonders of Work and Labor: The Steidle Collection of American Industrial Art, Penn State University 

2010

• Working Wisconsin: Selections from the Museum of Wisconsin Art 
• Foundry Work: A View of the Industry, The Photographs of Michael Schultz 

2009

• Midwest Murals: Joe Jones and J.B. Turnbull from the Haggerty Museum of Art, Marquette University 
• The Bookworm by Carl Spitzweg (1808-1885) 
• Wisconsin at Work: Thorsten Lindberg Paintings and Drawings from the MCHS Collection 
• Cradle of Industry: Works from the Rhineland Industrial Museum 
• American Steel: Works from the Collection of Tom and Lorie Annarella 

2008

• A Focus on Figures
• Stone

2007

• Physicians, Quacks, and Alchemists