Archives Directory for the History of Collecting in America

Pohl, La Vera, 1901-1981 print view role Artist Collector Scholar/Critic/Expert dates 1900-1981 city Milwaukee state WI other cities Port Washington, WI; Saugatuck, MI; Siegburg, Germany; Florence, Italy; Bonn, Germany; Prague, Czech Republic; Paris, France; Red Bank, NJ; sex F historical notes LaVera Ann Pohl, née Kempfer, was an artist, collector, art historian, author (Industrial Arts Magazine), and the Director of the Milwaukee Art Museum (1951–1955). Pohl collected work by German Expressionist and she owned work by, among others, Wassily Kandinsky, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Paul Klee, Oskar Kokoschka, Emil Nolde, and Karl Schmidt-Rottluff. She bequeathed her library and art collection to the Milwaukee-Downer College (by the time of her death had become part of Lawrence University). An exhibition of the collection was held in the Wriston Art Center in 1989. According to the Museum of Wisconsin Art, Pohl married the shoe varnish manufacturer (Kepec Chemical Corp.; aka Keiner & Pohl Company), William Max Pohl (1890–1970), in 1925. They moved to Europe shortly after they married (returning to the U. S. in 1939) where she received a Ph. D. in Art History from the University of Bonn in Germany. She attended the University of Florence, Cologne Academy, and the University of Prague (Czechoslovakia), and lectures at the Sorbonne in Paris. According to the U.S. Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014, Pohl was born on January 20, 1900 and died in October 27, 1981. This is in agreement with the Wisconsin, Births and Christening Index, 1801-1928, which also notes that Lavera A W Kempfer’s father was Ernst L. Kempfer and her mother was Walburger A. Retzer. decades of activity 1920-1930 1930-1940 1940-1950 1950-1960 1960-1970 1970-1980 email frank.c.lewis.@lawrence.edu updated 02/14/2025 10:12:23 bibliographic search Search Frick Art Reference Library Catalog Search Photoarchive Search Worldcat Search Library of Congress Name Authority File (LCNAF) Search Virtual International Authority File (VIAF) Search Wikidata Entry Archives/Repository Collection Title Collection Details Wisconsin Historical Society Archives Charlotte Russell Partridge and Miriam Frink Papers, 1862-1980 see details... Milwaukee Art Museum La Vera Pohl Papers see details... Lawrence University Archives 711 E. Boldt Way Lawrence University People Files, 1847-2017 see details... Milwaukee County Historical Society 910 N. Old World Third Street William Pohl Papers, 1919-1972 see details... «  back