On Saturday, November 1, over 80 people filled the Museum of Wisconsin Art, drawn
together to participate in the MWA’s International Symposium: Investigating an International
Treasure: The Diaries of Panorama Painter F.W. Heine. Inspired by the panorama painting
industry that emerged in Milwaukee in the 1880s, speakers from Germany, Pennsylvania
and Milwaukee enraptured guests with stories that covered the history, as well as
all the latest research and developments in panorama painting.
Organized by MWA Executive Director Tom Lidtke and Curator of Education Courtney
Spousta, the symposium began with Gabriele Koller, a scholar from Bonn, Germany,
discussing the European origins of Milwaukee panorama painting. She followed this
by discussing the modern panorama installations in Dresden and Leipzig by Yadegar
Asisi, a professor of architecture at the University of Applied Sciences in Berlin.
After a break, Tom Lidtke discussed, in depth, panorama painting in Milwaukee. This
presentation was followed by Sue Boardman, Leadership Program Coordinator for the
Gettyburg Foundation in Pennsylvania, who entertained the crowd with the story of
how the Battle of Gettysburg cyclorama has been restored and put back on permanent
display.
Lunch followed and then the stage was set for what was to prove to be the outstanding
talk of the day: Michal Kutzer’s presentation on the transcription and translation
of F.W. Heine’s diaries. Michael’s talk was preceded by Tom Lidtke, Antje Petty
of the Max Kade Institute for German-American Studies at UW Madison, and Dr. Bob
Teske of the Milwaukee County Historical Society who discussed the significance
of these diaries for not just Milwaukee history, but American and German history
as well. In his pronounced German accent, Michael read extracts from Heine’s diaries
in the 1880s, allowing the guests an unprecedented view into the life and times
of one of America’s greatest untold art history stories.
While these is much known about Wisconsin art. However, it is rare finds such as
the Heine Diaries and, a few years ago, the photographs of panorama painter Bernhard
Schneider, that are offering up previously unknown information, shedding new light
on the huge contribution Milwaukee and Wisconsin made to the art of the United States.
The Heine Diary project is a collaboration by multiple organizations – the MWA,
the Max Kade Institute for German-American Studies and the Milwaukee County Historical
Society and is moving forward, buoyed by the tremendous response to the symposium.
Additional support for the Symposium was gratefully received from Horicon Bank,
the Federal Republic of Germany/Consulate Chicago and the Wisconsin Arts Board.