The Lynden Sculpture Garden is home to a permanent collection of 50 monumental sculptures sited across 40 acres of park, pond, and woodland. It is the collection of Milwaukee industrialist and inventor Harry Bradley and his wife, Peg Bradley, a fashion entrepreneur. They began collecting contemporary monumental sculptures in 1962, and Peg Bradley collected actively until her death in 1978. Thus, the Lynden collection is a microcosm of international sculpture production in the ‘60s and ‘70s.
Since opening to the public in 2010, we have added a few works to the collection through donation. We also have an active temporary commissioning program, often bringing artists to Lynden to create works.
This virtual tour of the Lynden collection is a work in progress. We will continue to add information and collections-related activities over the coming months. We would like to thank the dedicated docents (whom we share with the Milwaukee Art Museum) who graciously agreed to record their thoughts about many of the sculptures: Lloyd Hickson, Jill Kemper, Joyce Pabst, Carol Stephenson, and Jerome Trewyn. We appreciate that they had often had different things to say about the same sculpture and have sometimes included more than one docent’s perspective. Click here to download a map.
Select a sculpture to begin.