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Milwaukee, WI Garden of the Apocalypse - Eugene Von Bruenchenhein 1910-1983 Mixed media and environment

Information: Eugene Von Bruenchenhein was born in Marinette, Wisconsin, in 1910, a year when Halley's Comet came back into the near Solar System. His mother died when he was seven. His father, a sign painter, married again to a woman who not only wrote treatises on evolution and reincarnation but also painted on canvas. It seems likely that Von Bruenchenhein learned to paint from both of them at an early age. He attended Catholic schools in Green Bay and Milwaukee through the tenth grade, then dropped out to work first in the small family grocery business, then later in a greenhouse and flower shop. He married Eveline Kalke (who called herself Marie) in 1943, and a year later went to work in a commercial bakery. He stayed with the bakery until it went out of business in 1959, then spent the rest of his life in semiretirement. Shortly after his death in 1983, it was revealed that he had spent much of his life making art in seclusion. Thousands of drawings and paintings were discovered in his home, along with odd floral ceramic pieces, miniature furniture and towers made from gilded chicken bones, large cement sculptures, dozens of poems and written works, and hundreds of photographs of his wife Marie in exotic costumes and settings. She and his close family had kept his immense output a secret for decades. Although his early works were more traditional depictions of flowers and landscapes, among them was found a vast series of apocalyptic finger paintings, begun in 1954 in reaction to the development of the hydrogen bomb. Later works reveal interests in evolution and the origins of life, outer space, and futuristic cities. Throughout his house he had placed messages to himself, some in pencil scribbled directly onto the wall, and some on gilded homemade plaques. One in the basement said, "Create and Be Recognized!" while a plaque in the kitchen testified: "Eugene Von Bruenchenhein—Freelance Artist, Poet and Sculptor, Inovator [sic], Arrow maker and Plant man, Bone artifacts constructor, Photographer and Architect, Philosopher." Considered one of "50 Classic Outsiders", Raw Vision Sourcebook, 2002" Dilettante Press

	Reference / Links:
	Dilettante Press: "Eugene Von Bruenchenhein" Carl Hammer Gallery: "Eugene Von Bruenchenhein" Intuit: "Eugene Von Bruenchenhein" Dilettante Press Wikipedia Slotin Folk Art John Michael Kohler Arts Center Home Page
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Bibliography: Museums John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, WI Reference "Eugene Von Bruenchenhein , Obsessive Visionary", exhibit catalog, 1988 "Raw Vision", No 10, 1994 "The End is Near!", Roger Manley. "Museum of American Folk Art Encyclopedia of Twentieth Century American Folk Art and Artists" by Chuck and Jan Rosenak, Abbeville Press, New York, 1990. "20th Century American Folk, Self Taught, and Outsider Art" by Betty-Carol Sellen, Cynthia J. Johnson, Neal-Schuman Publishers, New York, 1993. "Contemporary American Folk Art - A Collector's Guide" Chuck and Jan Rosenak, Abbeville Press, 1996. "Self-Made Worlds: Visionary Environments" by Roger Manley and Mark Sloan, Aperture, New York, 1997. "Self-Taught Artists of the 20th Century", exhibit catalog, 1998 "Self Taught, Outsider, and Folk Art—A guide to American Artists, Locations and Resources" by Betty-Carol Sellen with Cynthia J. Johnson, 2000. "The Intuitive Eye, The Mendelsohn Collection" by Ricco/Maresca Gallery, 2000. "50 Classic Outsiders", Raw Vision Sourcebook, 2002" "American Self-Taught Art: An Illustrated Analysis of 20th Century Artists and Trends with 1,319 Capsule Biographies" by Florence Laffal and Julius Laffal, 2003. "Sublime Spaces & Visionary Worlds: Built Environments of Vernacular Artists," by Leslie Umberger, Erika Doss, Ruth DeYoung Kohler, Lisa Stone, and Jane Bianco, published by John Michael Kohler Arts Center and Princeton Architectural Press, 2007.

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