The Museum of Wisconsin Art (MOWA) in West Bend is presenting a new exhibition titled "The American Landscape: Beyond the Horizon" from Saturday through July 19, in celebration of America’s 250th anniversary. The show brings together works from MOWA’s permanent collection and select loans, spanning the 19th century to the 2020s, to examine how artists have interpreted Wisconsin’s landscape through painting, photography, and sculpture, highlighting native voices and immigrant narratives.
The exhibition matters because it uses landscape art as a lens to explore the richness, complexity, and contradictions of regional identity and the broader American experience. By juxtaposing agrarian scenes with works addressing extraction, industry, and urbanization, the show encourages visitors to reconsider the land as an active force shaping identity and history, rather than merely a setting. An opening party and related events will further engage the public with these themes.