MAM’s Thomas Sully Show Captures 19th Century America

The Milwaukee Art Museum presents the work of 19th century American painter Thomas Sully, who painted many of the movers and shakers of the nation in his work than 2,000 works. This show emphasizes “the influences of the theater” in Sully’s work, notes our visual arts writer Kat Murrell: “Questions of identity peal back like onion layers” in his portraits, “his flurried brushstrokes with varying opacities carry luminous color, and the predominantly vivacious tonalities create a thread of delicacy throughout many of the works.”

The show includes nearly 80 works by Sully, and runs through January 5, 2014.

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