Marianne and Sheldon Lubar, Milwaukee Art Museum Life Trustees, whose family’s $10 million gift establishes the Lubar Family Center for Drawings and Prints. Photo by Cassaundra Cherney. 

Via PR

Works on paper account for more than half of the Milwaukee Art Museum’s collection of over 35,000 works, yet their sensitivity to light means they can only be exhibited for limited periods. A new $10 million commitment from the Lubar family will support the specialized care and research needed to bring more of these holdings into public view.

Announced November 5, the gift establishes the Lubar Family Center for Drawings and Prints, endowing a curator, paper conservator, fellowship and exhibition program. The collection spans more than five centuries, offering visitors opportunities to encounter both the intimacy of an artist’s drawing and the experimentation of printmaking.

Nikki Otten, who joined the museum in 2018, will lead the center as the Lubar Family Curator of Drawings and Prints. Her exhibitions have included Always New: The Posters of Jules Chéret and LaToya M. Hobbs: Carving Out Time. The gift extends two generations of Lubar family leadership at the museum, including more than 50 years of involvement by Sheldon and Marianne Lubar.

“Great cities need great institutions,” said Sheldon Lubar, Milwaukee Art Museum Life Trustee. “We’re proud to support the Milwaukee Art Museum as Milwaukee’s great institution!” 

“Behind every exhibition are people who study the art, care for it, and help us see it in new ways,” said Susan Lubar. “It’s exciting to support that work and to know this collection will continue to be a source of discovery for Milwaukee.”