Eugene Von Bruenchenhein, WIOnce Upon a Starlit Midnight1910–1983 
(left to right) Eugene Von Bruenchenhein, untitled (Marie, double exposure), c. 1943–1960; gelatin silver print; 2 1/2 x 2 3/4 in.; Eugene Von Bruenchenhein, Han Imperalis, No. 626, 1957; oil on Masonite; 25 1/2 x 25 in.; Eugene Von Bruenchenhein, Sensor Pots (incense burners), c. 1950–80; clay and paint; (l to r) 13 1/2 x 5 x 5 1/4 in., 10 7/8 x 6 x 5 1/2 in., 11 5/8 x 5 1/4 x 5 1/4 in., 10 5/8 x 6 x 5 1/4 in., 14 x 5 1/4 x 5 1/4 in.; Milwaukee artist Eugene Von Bruenchenhein was a poet and painter from the time of his youth. His artistic nature led him to explore ceramics, photography, and many other media, and to transform the small home he shared with his wife, Marie, into a unique container for the thousands of works he made. Von Bruenchenhein painted on canvasses and on the wall and ceilings of his home—inside and out. Additionally, Von Bruenchenhein made innumerable ceramic objects—crowns, flowers, beasts, and vessels—and repeatedly photographed Marie, posed as wife, ingénue, calendar girl, and more. The artist’s thoughts are recorded extensively in volumes of poetry, journals, and letters, chronicling the work he made and all that inspired it, year after year. After Von Bruenchenhein’s death, with the house in a severely deteriorated state, the Arts Center worked with his widow, Marie, to document and conserve the artist’s extensive body of work. Subsequently, and in following years, the Arts Center acquired over 600 works of art displaced from this dismantled environment, thus commencing the collection of works by vernacular environment builders. Related Links
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