Art in Milwaukee, Part 4 (Conclusion, Part 2)

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I had thought I was finished writing about the Masters of American Comics museum exhibit, but then Friday's edition of the New York Times printed an article about the exhibit including information heretofore unknown by me and which I wanted to share with you. There are some who say that I (gulp) read too many newspapers, but how else is one to get the news?

The NYT article by Carol Vogel points out that when the exhibition originated in Los Angeles last November, there were a total of 900 works but they were split into two portions that were shown concurrently at two different museums. Milwaukee was the second stop for the show, and (you will remember) that is where I viewed it; the Milwaukee Art Museum exhibit featured only about two-thirds of the works shown in L.A., but everything shown was housed in the one museum. The next (and seemingly last) stop for the exhibit will be New York City starting in September; in NYC the exhibit will be again be split between two museums and will feature a total of 600 works.

Although this exhibit-splitting may have been necessitated by space limitations, I'm glad I got to see the show in a single exhibit space. What I saw was a very cohesive exhibit, smartly designed. I wouldn't have known I had missed out on anything if I hadn't read the NYT article, but I feel that seeing the exhibit all in one museum makes up for having missed out on anything anyway. I am at peace. (But, in a moment of weakness, I do wonder whether the L.A. show had more Kirby pieces and, if so, what.)

Allow me now to toss you a couple of links for further reading. I came across an interview with Brian Walker, co-curator of the Masters of American Comics and son of comics legend Mort Walker. Also I found a blog-review by "Coop" of the MOCA exhibit from its days in L.A.; although he doesn't fully identify himself he is in fact Dave Cooper, one of my favorite comics artists to spring onto the scene in the 1990s (and his blog-review covers only the first half of the exhibit; don't you wonder like I do whether he made it over to the other museum for second half?).

As I sign off for now, I'll go ahead and fully identify myself as Brian Hayes, caretaker of the ambiguous hayfamzone. Feel free to visit www.hayfamzone.com but be sure to march past the chaff to get to the links. Good day!