Gertrude Abercrombie's Magic Realist Circle Gets Spotlight at Milwaukee Art Museum

A parallel exhibition at the Milwaukee Art Museum, 'Gertrude and Friends: The Wisconsin Magic Realists,' contextualizes Gertrude Abercrombie within her cohort of Midwest artists. Curated by Thomas Busciglio-Ritter, the show draws from the museum's permanent collection, featuring works by John Wilde, Karl Priebe, Dudley Huppler, and Marshall Glasier (Sylvia Fein is absent). It runs through October 25, 2025, alongside the traveling retrospective 'Gertrude Abercrombie: The Whole World is a Mystery' (through July 19), which presents about 80 paintings. The Magic Realists, a term coined by MoMA director Alfred Barr, emerged in the 1940s in Wisconsin and Illinois, blending Surrealism with everyday life. Abercrombie, known as 'Queen Gertrude,' hosted avant-garde jazz musicians like Dizzy Gillespie, Sarah Vaughan, and Miles Davis in her Chicago home. Her painting 'Message for Mercy' (1950) sold for over $1 million at Sotheby's in November 2025, surpassing her previous record of $864,000. Independent curator Robert Cozzolino warns that the market's focus on Abercrombie risks reinforcing the solitary genius narrative, obscuring the collective bonds that sustained the group.