Anthony Petullo is well known amount many art dealers, including by his trade mark of running through art shows with his red dots to mark the pieces that he wants as him before others can the chance! What makes Anthony Petullo very unique and different from other art collectors is that he doesn’t go for the artwork that is by the famous artists of our time, or even the past, but rather he collects hundreds of pieces in various mediums from paintings to drawings from self-taught artist who don’t have a large amount of exposure to the rest of the art world.

The Milwaukee Art Museum is featuring a show right now that was brought to them by Anthony Petullo, it was donated and contains work by a number of self-taught artists. This feature of over 300 works in the museum from the collection of Anthony Putullo has made the Milwaukee Art Museum the top institution for self-taught art, not just in the United States, but in the entire world. The current exhibit that includes 200 pieces from Putullo’s personal collection has 200 pieces that were created by 47 different artists and is being called, Accidental Genius: Art from the Anthony Petullo Collection.

Over the last few years museums have been expanding the type of work that they are allowing coming in, more and more we are seeing that self-taught artists do have a place inside of beautiful museums where their art can be enjoyed. Oddly enough, Putello has said that he prefers to collect this unique self-taught art over the simple art that sells for millions, he states that the expressiveness you can find from an artist that doesn’t have formal training, but does have a story to tell is much greater than that of the million dollar piece people associate art with.

With this recent change, more and more self-taught artists are starting to enjoy the idea that their art could be featured in various museums around the world. It is not demeaning, but the truth is that the art that is being featured in the collection doesn’t have the same things that top quality artists have, but is has something those done. Being a self-taught artist means that you can express yourself through anything without having to worry about the opinions of others, whether that is good or bad, a simple sketch or a full blow portrait can be just as beautiful as the work for a trained artist.