Blog @ the Nelson-Atkins

I have a secret. I would love to be a conservator. Having the knowledge of how works of art were created and how to put them back together would be so amazing. Also being able to walk up to a painting or scultpure and touch it would be pretty cool. However, since I lack the aptitude for anything scientific, I relish every chance I get to see the conservation team in action.

The other day, Tom's Cubicle was getting a little TLC. Conservation Associate Joe Rogers and Sculpture Technician Anna Zimmerman were examining the 40 large nuts and bolts that hold the sculpture together.

Click here to learn more about previous conservation of this and other objects at the Museum.

A few weeks ago, we posted a popular blog about the cricket paraphanalia on view in the Chinese collection. We had a request for more pictures so here is one of the installation. Of course, you can only do it justice if you come see it for yourself.

Something I didn't know is that the Chinese word for cricket literally means "one who stimulates spinning." The chirping of the crickets in autumn was a signal to the weavers in the rural towns and villages to get busy making their blankets and items for the winter.

A new exhibition of American photography opens this Saturday. Time in the West: Photographs by Mark Klett & Byron Wolfe and Mark Ruwedel features the work of three contemporary photographers investigating the visual and historical legacy of the American West.

The works by Klett & Wolfe are just stunning and so interesting. Trained as a geologist, Mark Klett established his artistic perspective on the Western American landscape as the chief photographer for the Rephotographic Survey Project in the late 1970s. This project re-examined over 120 19th-century Western survey photographs, including works by Timothy O’Sullivan, Andrew Russell and William Henry Jackson. Klett and his team found the precise locations of those views and then rephotographed the same scenes. Comparisons between the photographs reveal changes that had occurred in the intervening century.

Mark Klett will visit the Nelson-Atkins in November for a one-day forum and a special gallery walk.

It is always a great treat to have a living artist represented in our collection in the gallery to talk about his or her art. Be sure to visit the exhibition and come back for these special programs.

A new self-guided tour of the Museum’s collection is an excellent way to connect objects you have seen in our exhibition Rising Dragon: Ancient Treasures from China with the rest of our collection.

At the exit of the exhibition, you will find a sleek red brochure that gives you the names and locations of several objects that have connections to the exhibition. The tour will lead you through the European, African, Asian and Ancient galleries to make connections between cultures with varied nationalities, ethnicities and religious beliefs.

Don’t worry about getting lost in the different galleries; there are green or tan labels adorned with a dragon to help you find which piece you are looking for. The worst thing that could happen is you stumble across a piece of art not on the tour that is also pretty amazing, right?

The labels offer great additional information for all the pieces on each thematic tour. It was neat to see certain pieces of the permanent collection in a new way and experience them through the eyes of each culture.

The Collection Connections tour felt like a mini treasure hunt and was fun to do with a friend. So, go see Rising Dragon and on your way out, pick up the Collection Connections brochure, explore and enjoy!

If you have a hankering for all things related to American art, come to the Nelson-Atkins this weekend. On Saturday, the American Painting Symposium features seven of the nation’s top American art historians for talks on key paintings in the collection. Speakers will discuss the works of artists including John Singer Sargent, Frederic Church and Thomas Hart Benton.

Speaking of Benton, the ten panels from his American Historical Epic are scheduled to be removed from Gallery 214 next Monday. They will be reinstalled in the Museum's Atkins Auditorium by the end of November.

Among the hundreds of Benton's works owned by the Nelson-Atkins, the American Historical Epic is not only a popular favorite but a seminal work in the artist's long career. This series of paintings signaled a new aesthetic from his previous abstract paintings to a new vision of modern American art that came to be known as Regionalism.

Be sure to pay a visit before they make their temporary departure.

Daguerreotypes were a pretty amazing invention for the 1830s. It was one of the inventions that marked the beginning of the modern age. The Developing Greatness exhibit on display until December 30, celebrates this remarkable invention.

On Friday, a true daguerreotype scholar, Grant B. Romer, will be at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. He will be giving an illustrated lecture on Friday night about the American experience with daguerreotype studios. He will discuss the perspectives of being behind and in front of the camera.

The exposure time for these little pictures could range from three to 15 minutes, making portraiture pretty impractical. The length of time adds to the honesty of the photograph, but can you imagine posing for family holiday pictures for 10 minutes?

Romer has edited numerous books on daguerreotypes, so missing this expert’s lecture on the origins of photography would certainly be a shame.

If you wander through the Chinese collection, you will find evidence of true warriors. These warriors had names such as the “Black-headed General” or the “Golden-winged Marshal” – perhaps you’ve heard of them? These great crickets were held in high esteem. That’s right, crickets.

Crickets have been revered in Chinese culture for their song and their fighting spirit. They were kept as pets by palace ladies and hunted by children during the fall. As cricket fighting gained popularity, it became a serious betting sport, and the accoutrement grew increasingly sophisticated.

On display are intricately carved cages made of wood, gourd and ivory for these pets and warriors to reside. The tickler made of ivory and rat hair used to entice crickets to fight is a particular favorite of mine. These crickets ate out of porcelain dishes and slept in beds of ivory. Not too bad a life for an insect, eh?

A new review of the Museum's Rozzelle Court Restaurant calls it "exquisite" and they are right!

If you haven't been to Rozzelle Court lately, you must come for a visit. The atmosphere alone is worth it but the food is excellent, too. The review mentions that Rozzelle Court is open for dinner on Fridays but it is actually open Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Check out all our hours.

Starting Nov. 24, Rozzelle Court will transform into a date-night destination with a served dinner menu. Details will come later.

The new featured exhibition Rising Dragon: Ancient Treasures from China opens this coming saturday (Oct. 6). There is a lot of activity going on in the galleries including installing both casework and art work.

This gorgeous Dragon-form Roof Tile is from the Ming Dynasty. Here, one of the Museum's conservators takes a close look at the piece after it was recently installed.