The Best of Both Worlds

Just got back over from a trip to Milwaukee over the weekend.  It looked liked pretty much any other big, American city.  We partied on Water Street on Friday night, then took a boat cruise down the river that flows through the center of town out to the harbor and Lake Michigan.  Just being on Lake Michigan gives a place a big advantage.  Milwaukee did have a nice green park/trail running along the lake front which I found to be unique. 

Of course we ate our share of bratwurst and various other sausages.  It was all good.  Less heavy tasting then the typical brat I was used to from the supermarket.  The beer was fine as well, but then, finding a good beer doesn’t really give you the same amount of satisfaction it might have in the past when a decent brew was so hard to find in the US. 

On Sunday Nick and me went to Milwaukee’s newest landmark: the Milwaukee Museum of Art.  I could not go all the way to Milwaukee and not stop in for a visit at the building that has won so much acclaim, and is famed Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava’s first work in the US. 

I was not previously familiar with Calatrava’s work (had never even heard of the guy before, embarrassingly enough), and so this was a good chance to get a fresh look at a piece of art without any previous ideas or prejudices getting in the way.  And so I got my first glimpse of the building at night, from a distance, riding a boat in the harbor.  From this vantage point it was hard to tell much about what I was seeing–the only impression I was left with was that it was very white, and slightly delicate with its long wing-like removable roof pieces on top.  The next day me and Nick arrived and were presented with a long gallery paralleling the lake and running down to connect with the main building.  The lines were sharp and clean, and the pure white color I had noticed the previous night was even more pronounced in the bright sunlight.  I am not sure if this was his intent, but the whole building is shaped like a giant sail boat, ready to launch out onto Lake Michigan.  It fit in beautifully with the setting.  Once you walk inside, the interior white marble (?) floor reflected the light coming in off the giant windows facing the Lake, and created the impression of being on water, imitating the way light reflects on the actual surface of a lake.  It was all very peaceful and calm, but a bit lacking in substance. 

The collection itself was nothing too special.  I was happy to see a great painting by Zurbaran, one of my favorite Spanish painters.  It was a solemn picture of St. Francis, head bowed and holding a skull in his hands.  It was classic Zurbaran: striking in its solemnity and simplicity, masterly carried out by an expert in the individual pieces of the human form.  His paintings are so distinct.  Only El Greco has a more unique style among early Spanish painters. 

Other than the museum has one of the largest collections of Haitian art in the world, so we had to check that out too.  It wasn’t very large, just one big room, but the colorful paintings were full of life, and carried interesting tidbits suggesting the peculiar blending of African and Christian religion that exists in Haitian culture.  It was something different, and that was satisfying. 

Finally we hit up the Hofbrau house for giant, liter mugs of beer, and some sausage and German potatoes.  It all went down nicely, but a liter of beer is a bit too much for me on a lonely Sunday afternoon, and I couldn’t finish it.  Four hours later I was walking onto the tarmac at Milwaukee Intl. Airport and getting onto my plane that would fly up into the darkness over Lake Michigan, with the pink and orange sky blazing behind.