Millie Rose Lalk

Seeking quality artwork by Millie Rose Lalk.

Artwork currently unavailable. Please fill out the contact us form, stating your interest and we will let you know when artwork becomes available. Thank you.

(1895, Whitewater, WI - 1943, Fort Atkinson, WI)

Millie Rose Lalk was better known for oil paintings she created toward the end of her short life. While she studied art in high school and attended a three month course at the Art Institute of Chicago, Lalk’s early work showed nothing more than average skills in design and painting. It wasn’t until after the death of her youngest child in 1935, that her husband noticed a change in attitude. She became introspective and devoted much time to sketching and painting.

A few years passed in which Lalk created nothing exceptional. However, in 1940, she attended John Stewart Curry’s tour of the Rural Artists Exhibit in which she entered an oil painting. He critiqued her work and emphasized that she should focus on using more color and develop her own distinct style. Afterwards, Lalk continued to exhibit increasingly successful paintings and receive accumulating recognition.

Lalk earned a one person show at the Wustum Museum at Racine. She also exhibited with the Sculptors and Painters organization and entered state fair exhibitions, where she won two first prizes.  She was selected by the Rural Art Committee to be represented in their permanent collection. She exhibited with Beloit College, the Chicago Art Institute, Illinois State Museum, Madison Art Association, Milwaukee Art Institute, and Purdue University.

She was recognized as Wisconsin’s outstanding rural artist by the Milwaukee Journal in 1942. Life Magazine also featured her.

Sources: Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millie_Rose_Lalk

John Rector Barton, “Strange Harvest”, Rural Artists of Wisconsin (Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press, 1948), 93-97.

Photo credit: Photo credit: John Rector Barton, Rural Artists of Wisconsin (Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press, 1948), 93.