"Persistent Practice" is an exhibition exploring dedication to craft across generations, bringing together the paintings of Oscar Gruber (1897–1987), the inventive work of his son Matthew Gruber, and contemporary life drawings by Wisconsin artists. In the 1950s and early 1960s, Oscar Gruber created hundreds of oil portraits while attending weekly live-model sessions at the Art Students League in New York City. Though he worked full time in a furniture finishing business, he remained deeply committed to painting, producing gestural, expressive works that reflect the diversity and vitality of midcentury urban life. Born in Brooklyn to Romanian Jewish immigrants, his story speaks to perseverance, labor, and cultural continuity. Extending this legacy of creativity, Matthew Gruber engineered some of the first talking automatons and patented a looping audio feature that allowed figures to “speak” continuously. Paired with present-day life drawings, the exhibition highlights life drawing as an enduring, communal practice that links past and present through sustained attention and care.

​

Special Thanks the family of Oscar and Mathew Gruber for sharing this work. 

​

Credits
Chief Curator: Debra Brehmer

Assistant Curator and Head Researcher: Seth Ter Haar
Gallery Director: Debra Brehmer
Gallery Manager/Registrar: Paul Salsieder
Graphic Design: Adeline Jean

​​​

Press: 

Milwaukee Record​