Blog @ the Nelson-Atkins

Ok, so this isn’t technically in the Bloch Building but it is part of the ongoing transformation project at the Nelson-Atkins.

Two galleries dedicated to works of modern artists (between 1900 and 1945) are open in the Nelson-Atkins Building. The contemporary collection will be housed in the new Bloch Building when it opens in 2007 (there, I worked in something about the Bloch Building, therefore justifying this post). You can see a glimpse of those galleries in a previous post.

The newest modern gallery just opened a few weeks ago on the Plaza Level. It covers a few of the “isms,” including Cubism and Surrealism, as well as Abstraction and Dada.

The gallery is a mix of medium from furniture and decorative arts to paintings and sculpture. Max Ernst’s Capricorn looks so much bigger in the gallery compared to its previous location in the massive Kirkwood Hall. Other artists included are Marcel Duchamp, Joan Miro, Juan Gris, Man Ray, Wassily Kandinsky and Alexander Calder. All in this intimate space; it’s quite powerful.

Across the hall is the other modern gallery. This one is dedicated to Expressionism. It includes paintings by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Emil Nolde as well as stunning works of decorative arts and sculpture.

So if you’ve been missing the modern collection since most of it went off view last year, be sure to stop by. It will be worth the trip!

I popped into some of the new gallery space in the Bloch Building the other day and found a flurry of activity. As I approached the scene, I began to hear a beautiful language that unfortunately, I don’t speak. It was the Italian workers from Goppion who are installing the new casework for the African collection.

The cases are massive; some over 16 feet long. Most of them will be enclosed on three sides by glass, allowing for more visual access to the works of art by visitors.

In addition to being pretty, these cases are state of the art (no pun intended). The construction allows for minimal disruption to the art while ensuring the optimal conditions for conservation. They also incorporate some of the Bloch Building’s main aesthetic: light. The upper portion of the tall cases will be covered in an opaque glass and when lit from within, will create a gentle wash of light in the gallery.

A parting shot of the happy Italians at work:

All the new display cases in the Bloch Building are keeping the Museum’s preparation and conservations staff quite busy.

As I mentioned in a previous post, the new cases allow for increased visual access to the works of art. While the cases are fabulous, they have created some challenges on how to best display the art. The goal is that visitors see the art, not what’s holding it in place.

If you thought the art was just placed on the walls with some nails and a hammer, you would be surprised to see some of the creativity that goes into fabricating a good mount. Many pieces have very specific needs and require a lot of ingenuity, skill and collaboration between members of the Museum staff.

Currently, the African collection is getting prepared to move into the new building. Most of the mounts need to be redone so that they are more discrete and work with the structure of the new cases.

The Spencer Art Reference Library will close its current location in the Nelson-Atkins Building on December 16 in order to move into the new Bloch Building.

The new location includes stacks with a capacity for 216,000 volumes. The library currently holds approximately 145,000 volumes so there is plenty of room for growth.

The library will reopen in its wonderful new location in March 2007. During this period, e-mails and phone calls will be answered.

Recent wintry weather caused the usual seasonal difficulties in Kansas City – icy roads and frozen toes. But it also created some beautiful vistas in the Kansas City Sculpture Park .

On this day, the J.C. Nichols Plaza on the Museum’s north side was graced not only by incredible works of art by Claes Oldenberg and Walter De Maria, but a thin coat of ice. The steam from the Museum’s central plant almost reminds me of an Impressionist painting of a train station.

These two braved the elements for an up close look at the splendid combination of nature and art. I wisely remained inside the warm and comfortable lobby of the Bloch Building to capture these shots. Thank goodness for zoom!

I’ve been to many Museums in my life. Obviously I have noticed the cases before but normally I am focused on what’s inside them. A recent tour of the Bloch Building with the Museum’s manager of fabrications shed new light on how important those cases are to the safety and presentation of the art.

The first and most important thing I learned is that when dealing with fragile and priceless works of art, display cases must be of the highest quality. The challenge is to create cases that protect the art and allow easy access for conservation while blending with the aesthetic of the gallery.

To meet that challenge, a fusion of traditional, state-of-the-art and specialty materials have been forged together to bring the Museum’s exhibition casework to a level never before enjoyed.

So when you enter the new Bloch Building next summer or wander through some of the existing galleries in the Nelson-Atkins Building, take a moment to notice the cases and realize all the thought, skill and innovation that goes into them. Then enjoy the beautiful works of art!

This morning I had a tour of the Spencer Art Reference Library’s new location in the Bloch Building with the head of the Museum’s library services. I learned about many of the new features and expanded services as well as some cool facts and figures. I will share some of those with you in later postings.

Today, I am focusing on the new reading room (see previous post). I learned that there will be several different sections of the reading room including the main area with chairs and tables for the more studious minded, another area with four new PCs that have full Internet access and, at the end of the room, will be the “lounge.”

The lounge will have a comfortable L-shaped bench (shown here without its cushy padding), some very nice leather chairs and a couple of reading lamps. This reading nook will be the perfect spot to look through some of the library’s newest books, catch up with the latest art periodicals or peruse some of the library’s 40,000 auction catalogues.

The workers from Goppion were hard at work installing the display cases in the Bloch Building before the holiday. On this day, they were skillfully placing the panes of glass on the framework of one of the larger cases in the African galleries. This one is about 18 feet long.

By the way, Goppion also did the case for the Mona Lisa in the Louvre, Paris. Oh la la!