Larry Bell Selected as Inaugural Artist in Milwaukee Art Museum's Winter Series

This January, the Milwaukee Art Museum will launch its new Winter Series—an annual presentation highlighting works of art inspired by nature in the grand, light-filled Quadracci Pavilion—with the inaugural installation of Larry Bell’s Iceberg. The monumental piece made by the renowned artist in 2020 will be on view January 13–March 10, 2024, connecting the atrium of the Quadracci Pavilion’s Windhover Hall to its seasonal surroundings. Larry Bell’s Iceberg is free and open to the public.

A leading member of the California Light and Space Movement, Larry Bell (American, b. 1939) is known for his innovative sculptural experiments with light and perception, primarily through the medium of glass. By exploring its surface effects—how glass simultaneously reflects, absorbs, and transmits light—Bell produces spatial ambiguities that vacillate between the material and immaterial. Part of the artist’s Standing Wall series, which he began in the late 1960s, Iceberg includes four zig-zagged, free-standing panels—each seven feet tall at its pinnacle—made from two sheets of clear glass between which color film is placed. It will be set against the backdrop of the ever-changing Lake Michigan during the coldest months of the year, evoking the shape and shifting tones of floating ice forms and, incidentally, the effects of a changing climate.

“Iceberg presents visitors with a perceptual experience that shifts in response to their vantage point, the light and time of day, and the colors of the lake and sky just beyond, reminding visitors of the power of viewing art in person,” said Elizabeth Siegel, chief curator at the Milwaukee Art Museum.

This installation continues the Milwaukee Art Museum’s longstanding relationship with Bell. The Museum’s collection is home to three untitled sculptures made by the artist, having acquired its first piece in 1970 within a year of its creation. It is also home to works that Bell created in 1965 and 1972.

“Welcoming visitors to engage with innovative contemporary art is vital to our mission at the Milwaukee Art Museum,” said Marcelle Polednik, PhD, Donna and Donald Baumgartner Director. “As a public gathering place that is open to all, Windhover Hall is an ideal setting to kick off the annual Winter Series. Visitors will be able to revel in the perception-altering forms of Iceberg, all the while reflecting on the austere beauty of winter on view within and outside the Museum.”