Curator Chat

We Ask Leading Museum Curators About What’s Going On In Their World

Brandon Ruud, Abert Family Curator of American Art
Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, WI • (414) 224-3200 • www.mam.org

What event (gallery show, museum exhibit, etc.) in the next few months are you looking forward to, and why?
I’m really looking forward to seeing Minneapolis Institute of Art’s Supernatural America: The Paranormal in American Art this summer. I’m eager to see the Chrysler Museum of Art’s Alma Thomas show and the Thyssen-Bornemisza’s take on Georgia O’Keeffe later in the summer, and of course, Sarah Cash’s John Singer Sargent in Spain exhibition when it opens at the National Gallery next year.

What are you reading?
For distraction and pleasure, I’ve been reading Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s Mexican Gothic and John Banville’s Snow. For research and curatorial practice, I’ve been reading Darby English’s and Charlotte Barat’s Among Others: Blackness at MoMA, and, because I was unable to travel and see the exhibitions in person, I’ve been reading Leo Mazow’s Edward Hopper and the American Hotel and the Homer | Remington catalogs.

Interesting exhibit, gallery opening or work of art you’ve seen recently.
I really appreciated seeing DISPLACED: Contemporary Artists Confront the Global Refugee Crisis at SITE Santa Fe in January. Since my partner works at the Art Institute, we’ve had a few opportunities to visit and see the excellent Bisa Butler and Monet in Chicago exhibitions. We also had the pleasure of revisiting Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin for several days and touring the Villa Louis Historic Site in Prairie du Chien.

What are you researching at the moment?
I’ve been working on a catalog of the museum’s collection of works by artists associated with the Ashcan School and the Eight. We are in the phase of approving final layout, and this is an exciting moment to be in—seeing years of planning and research developed into a tangible object that will hopefully contribute to the discourse on this group.

What is your dream exhibit to curate? Or see someone else curate?
I’ve been working on another project that includes some lesser-known historic American art in the collection, including paintings by Thomas Buchanan Read, Cephas Thompson and George Henry Yewell, and I’m interested in expanding upon that. I’ve heard through other sources that someone is thinking of a Charles Whedon Rain exhibition, which
I hope is true and would love to see.—