Written by Clarence Esposito Monday, 07 February 2011 21:10

Super Bowl Loss Means Renoir’s “Bathers With Crab” Will Be Going To The Milwaukee Art Museum

AKN NEWS - A good number of friendly (and probably not so friendly) wagers were resolved when the Green Bay Packers edged out the Pittsburgh Steelers 31-25 in the  45^th Super Bowl. Amongst those wagers was one, among two museum directors,  that is starting to become a Super Bowl ritual among museum directors. The loss of a major artwork by a museum in the losing team’s city. In this case, Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s “Bathers With Crab” will be making the trip from The Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh to The Milwaukee Art Museum in Wisconsin. The annual wager between arts museums was initiated by arts blogger Tyler Green, and last year resulted in the Indianapolis Museum of Art sheepishly sending a prized J.M.W. Turner work to the New Orleans Museum of Art. This year, the Carnegie Museum of Art’s Renoir was up against "Boating on the Yerres" an 1877 painting by Gustave Caillebotte. Loss of the artwork is only temporary, the winning museum only gaining custody of the painting on a 3 month loan, but the wager required that both museums put up a great work of art that would definitely be missed from their collection, but one that was not already committed to an upcoming exhibit or education program.

Before the game, Daniel Keegan, the Milwaukee museum's director and an avid Packers fan said “I'm confident that we will be enjoying the Renoir from Carnegie Museum of Art very soon". He will now have the chance to show the Renoir to his museum’s visitors alongside its own, much earlier, Renoir “View of Bougival” from 1873.

The Milwaukee Art Museum collects and preserves art, presenting it to the community as a vital source of inspiration and education. 20,000 works of art. 300,000+ visitors a year. 120 years of collecting art. From its roots in Milwaukee’s first art gallery in 1888, the Museum has grown today to be an icon for Milwaukee and a resource for the entire state.The 341,000-square-foot Museum includes the War Memorial Center (1957) designed by Finnish-American architect Eero Saarinen, the Kahler Building (1975) by David Kahler, and the Quadracci Pavilion (2001) created by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava.

Central to the Museum’s mission is its role as a premier educational resource, with educational programs that are among the largest in the nation, involving classes, tours, and a full calendar of events and exhibitions for all ages.