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Gerrit V. Sinclair 1880-1955: A Retrospect

August 14 - September 29, 2002

The West Bend Art Museum is pleased to present yet another temporary exhibition that focuses on early Wisconsin regional art. This exhibition focuses on an important Wisconsin artist who worked in a style of art known as American regionalism. While a few internationally-known Midwest artists such as Thomas Hart Benton and artist-in-residence at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, John Steuart Curry popularized American regionalist painting, other Midwestern regional artists such as Gerrit Sinclair brought this style of charming painting to the masses. (left: Gerrit Sinclair, Jones Island, Milwaukee, 1938, 1938, oil, 24 1/16 x 30 1/8 inches)

Gerrit Sinclair was one of Wisconsin's premier chroniclers of middle-class America during the first half of the 20th century. Sinclair's paintings express mood and narrative. Often idyllic, his stylized paintings capture a slower and more relaxed time and place that perhaps existed more as a state of mind than a condition of reality.

Sinclair arrived in Wisconsin in 1920 when he joined the art faculty of the Layton School of Art (Milwaukee). He continued to actively create and exhibit his work until around the end of World War II. His work includes images of daily life as it unfolded in the environment of close-knit city neighborhoods, small town and rural Wisconsin. A few of his paintings reflect his own military service experiences of World War I. (right: Gerrit Sinclair, credit information pending)

All of the works of art for this exhibition have been loaned by the artist's son, Peter Sinclair. The staff of the West Bend Art Museum curated this exhibition with assistance from Cece Murphy-Kim of Illinois and the artist's son, Peter Sinclair of New York.

The exhibition is complemented by a publication with literary contributions from Peter Sinclair and Janet Treacy, who is an independent art historian and curator from Waukesha, Wisconsin and Naples, Florida.

Read more articles and essays concerning this institutional source by visiting the sub-index page for the West Bend Art Museum in Resource Library Magazine.

Search for more articles and essays on American art in Resource Library. See America's Distinguished Artists for biographical information on historic artists.

This page was originally published in 2002 in Resource Library Magazine. Please see Resource Library's Overview section for more information.

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