{"id":5781,"date":"2024-02-06T13:33:05","date_gmt":"2024-02-06T19:33:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mam.org\/info\/pressroom\/?p=5781"},"modified":"2024-02-06T13:33:53","modified_gmt":"2024-02-06T19:33:53","slug":"milwaukee-art-museum-presents-major-exhibition-of-renowned-photographer-julia-margaret-camerons-pioneering-portraits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mam.org\/info\/pressroom\/2024\/02\/milwaukee-art-museum-presents-major-exhibition-of-renowned-photographer-julia-margaret-camerons-pioneering-portraits\/","title":{"rendered":"Milwaukee Art Museum Presents Major Exhibition of Renowned Photographer Julia Margaret Cameron\u2019s Pioneering Portraits"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The only Midwestern presentation of the internationally touring exhibition Arresting Beauty: Julia Margaret Cameron<\/em> showcases the 19th-century artist\u2019s explorations of transcendent beauty through portraiture.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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MILWAUKEE, WI<\/strong>\u2014February 6, 2024\u2014The Milwaukee Art Museum partners with the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, to present Arresting Beauty: Julia Margaret Cameron<\/a><\/em>, an exhibition illuminating the transcendent beauty of the renowned photographer\u2019s pioneering style. Featuring more than 90 works, including photographs, paintings, and archival objects, the exhibition will be on view May 3\u2013July 28, 2024, in the Museum\u2019s Herzfeld Center for Photography and Media Arts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are honored to bring this significant selection of Julia Margaret Cameron\u2019s photographs from the V&A\u2019s collection to the Milwaukee Art Museum,\u201d said Marcelle Polednik, PhD, Donna and Donald Baumgartner Director<\/strong>. \u201cAs the only Midwest venue for Arresting Beauty<\/em>, our visitors will have a unique opportunity to view these rare and groundbreaking prints that will likely not be brought back together again in our generation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Julia Margaret Cameron (English, b. India, 1815\u20131879) is distinguished as one of the most innovative and influential photographers in the medium\u2019s history. In 1863, at 48 years old, she received her first camera as a gift from one of her children. Cameron refined her artistic practice, creating a distinct style that set her apart from other photographers: close-up, soft-focus portraits often with scratches and smudges she thought enhanced the images\u2019 beauty. Though her style was criticized and considered aesthetically radical for her time, Cameron\u2019s legacy positions her as an artist who broke ground for future photographers. For over a decade, she made photographs from her home in Freshwater on the Isle of Wight and her studio at the South Kensington Museum (now the V&A) in London. She is best known for sensitive, spiritual portraits of her contemporaries and scenes staging allegorical, biblical, historical, and literary stories. Sitters for Cameron\u2019s photographs include Charles Darwin and Alfred Tennyson, as well as her family members, friends, neighbors, and domestic workers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Julia Margaret Cameron, Call, I Follow, I Follow, Let Me Die!, 1867, carbon print \u00a9 The Royal Photographic Society Collection at the V&A, acquired with the generous assistance of the National Lottery Heritage Fund and Art Fund. Museum no. RPS.735-2017<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cJulia Margaret Cameron found beauty in the everyday\u2014both in the people around her and in the photographic \u2018mistakes\u2019 she made,\u201d said Kristen Gaylord, Herzfeld Curator of Photography and Media Arts<\/strong> at the Milwaukee Art Museum. \u201cHer artistic pursuit of such beauty left an enduring impact on the field, and I\u2019m thrilled we can bring this major internationally touring exhibition to our community.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arresting Beauty<\/em> travels from Jeu de Paume, Paris, to the Milwaukee Art Museum and comprises three sections: Cameron\u2019s early photography experiments, her portraits of her contemporaries, and her allegorical compositions and artistic tableaux.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Exhibition highlights include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n