Russell Bowman, director of the Milwaukee Art Museum, begins his introductory essay on the genesis of this show with the question “Why these three artists?” But the fact of such an exhibition—which is, among other things, the first U.S. museum retrospective for Andy Warhol since his death, and the first-ever Sigmar Polke retrospective in this country—begs the question “Why here?”

In describing the various connections among these artists Bowman notes that they began their public careers at approximately the same time (1960) and rose to prominence in three successive decades: Warhol in the ’60s,