Name/Title
Red Tropical Circle (Milwaukee Conservatory)Context
“The Camera Artistry of Frankie Cole” has helped shape Milwaukee’s self-identity since the 1970s. Across decades of creative work, Cole has turned his lens to capture internationally known entertainers including Marvin Gaye, Roberta Flack, and Taj Mahal, and mainstays of Milwaukee’s skyline and cultural life, including as official photographer of the Great Circus Parade. Cole, with Michael Ward and Gerald Duane Coleman, was a founder of the Freewheelers at the Martin Luther King Library.
“Red Tropical Circle" exemplifies Cole’s innovative technique of “us[ing] my camera like a paint brush” to convey a “beautiful trip of emotions, impressions and moods of people, places and things.” In this composition, Cole's camera artistry creates a sense of "inner movement" shared by Richard Overton's two abstract compositions and the puzzle pieces of Edgar Jeter's "Girl Reading." Picturing a waterfall at the Mitchell Park Domes (formerly Milwaukee Conservatory), "Red Tropical Circle" joins other works in celebrating the places and public institutions that help connect us and anchor our social infrastructure: the library (Edgar Jeter’s “Girl Reading”), the zoo (Gerald Coleman’s “Pride of the Bamboo Forest,” based on the gorillas at the Milwaukee County Zoo), and neighborhoods and front stoops (Sylvester Sims’s “Brothers” and its look back to the “warmth, vigor and camaraderie” of 'Old Walnut Street').Collection
Wisconsin Art Collection, Artwork CollectionAcquisition
Accession
1981.4Source or Donor
Frank "Frankie B." ColeAcquisition Method
PurchaseMade/Created
Artist
Frank "Frankie B." ColeDate made
circa 1981Inscription/Signature/Marks
Type
SignatureLocation
Lower rightTranscription
"Frankie B. Cole"Dimensions
Dimension Description
Image SizeDiameter
15 inDimension Description
Framed SizeHeight
22-1/4 inWidth
18-1/4 inDimension Description
Matted SizeHeight
19-1/2 inWidth
16 inRelationships
Related Person or Organization
Person or Organization
FreewheelersRelated Publications
Notes
Materials pertaining to the artist are available in the Milwaukee Black Arts Movement digital collection: https://content.mpl.org/digital/collection/MkeBAM/.