Blog @ the Nelson-Atkins

This Sunday, Dec. 2, Professor David Driskell will give a lecture on Kansas native Aaron Douglas. A prominent figure in the Harlem Renaissance, Douglas' work appeared in publications such as Vanity Fair and Opportunity on a regular basis. In 1934, he was commissioned to paint murals for the 135th Street branch of the New York Public Library.

Professor Driskell is the Distinguished University Professor of Art, Emeritus, university of Maryland and the premier authority on Douglas.

The lecture celebrates the Museum's recent acquisition of Douglas' Study for "Aspects of Negro Life: An Idyll of the Deep South." The drawing will be on view when the new American galleries open in 2009, which sounds like a really long time but will be here before we know it. Until then, be sure to come to the lecture this Sunday to learn more about this important American artist.

Construction of the new American and American Indian galleries is now fully underway. The entire 2nd floor south corridor is a dedicated construction site. The American galleries on the east side of the building, including the Rotunda, are open at this time, and we hope that they can remain so throughout the project.

The galleries that remain open are 217, 219 and 220 containing such masterpieces as Mrs. Cecil Wade by John Singer Sargent, Persephone by Thomas Hart Benton, Himmel by Marsden Hartley and Raphaelle Peale's Venus Rising from the Sea - A Deception.

The newly installed collections will open in 2009. We will be sure to keep you updated on the progress.

The photography galleries are displaying a new rotation of works from the Hallmark Photographic Collection. The range of this collection is truly astounding. I was excited to see a few works that I recognize from revered American photographers.

The first one that caught my eye is Migrant Mother, Nipomo, California by Dorothea Lange. Lange was employed by the Farm Security Administration during the Great Depression and became deeply influential on American documentary photography.

Lange’s photograph is very moving. You can feel the concern emanating from her face and the desperation of the children she holds. It’s very powerful and should definitely be seen in person.

Gordon Parks’ work, Man Emerging, is also really interesting. It’s always great to see a local talent represented in a gallery (he was born in Fort Scott, KS). The photograph was taken in 1952, so I think the title of the work serves as an interesting metaphor for his contemporary society.

This new rotation is chock full of great photographers: Imogen Cunningham, Diane Arbus, Alfred Stieglitz and many more. This time around the photographs are a fantastic mixture of humor, humanity and nature. This rotation is not to be missed!

The Museum's new exhibition of contemporary African art, Tapping Currents: Contemporary African Art and the Diaspora, contains 7 magnificent works of art. One of them is a new media piece called Africa Rifting: Lines of Fire, Namibia/Brazil.

The 15-minute video is beautiful and soothing but also mournful and contemplative. The artist, Georgia Papageorge, experienced both apartheid and the death of her 2-year-old daughter and the influences are obvious. She uses the ancient geological connection between the continents of Africa and South America as a metaphor for division between peoples. The intention of her art is to re-connect people and bring spiritual healing.

There are images of churches and cities while bells chime and you hear the sound of the wind and surf. The red fabric flows in the wind or lays along the beach of each country's coastline. Sometimes the fabric is covered with the sand or reflected in the water as if the shores are bleeding from the physical division that occured more than 135-million years ago.

It is definitely worth dedicating 15 minutes of your life to examine this incredible work of art either in the gallery or during one of the screenings in January and April.

The Nelson-Atkins elves are busy getting ready for Thanksgiving weekend. The day after turkey day kicks off a weekend of special programs, events, dining and shopping at the Museum.

One of my favorite traditions is the annual Tree-Lighting Ceremony and Holiday Concert in the Museum’s glorious Kirkwood Hall. Holiday songs by the respected Kansas City Chorale and family caroling will provide a harmonious accompaniment to this beloved event.

The 22-foot tree is quite majestic but it is what's under it that catches everyone's attention. Placed around the tree’s base are dozens of 18th-century Neapolitan nativity-scene figures, or presepio. An important part of the Italian Christmas season, the presepio was first popularized by St. Francis of Assisi in 1223 in the Italian village of Greccio. Spectacular compositions of scenes and characters were displayed in churches and the chapels of noble families in 17th- and 18th-century Naples.

Something else I spotted when I was in the objects conservation lab was this beautiful Egyptian relief from the 3rd millenium B.C.E., Relief of Ka-aper and His Wife Tutti. It is a relief from a tomb that depicts the inhabitant of the tomb and his wife. It has been in the Museum's collection for over 60 years.

The conservators have been treating the surface to consolidate and control the flaking. The stone contains a lot of soluable salts that have dried out and started flaking with exposure to air. They have also been able to remove some stains that were caused by previous restorations.

The next step is to decide how to cosmetically restore it. The piece will be examined by an Egyptologist from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Since this is an archaeological piece, our conservators prefer to do less restoration than more. Anything they do to the relief could cause further damage. The challenge will be to decide how much they can do to increase the legibility but maintain the piece's natural integrity.

The next time you visit the Nelson-Atkins be sure to check out the exhibit of contemporary American ceramics in the Bloch Building. The gallery consists of four wall cases filled with pieces of 20th-century ceramics by artists such as Warren MacKenzie, Beatrice Wood, Kenneth Ferguson and Edward Eberle.

One case is dedicated to the works of Otto and Gertrud Natzler. The pieces are amazing as is the story of the Natzlers on the label:

"Fleeing their native Vienna as the Nazi forces advanced toward Austria in 1938, the husband and wife ceramicist team of Otto and Gertrud Natzler arrived in America with their potter's wheel, their kiln and little else. The Natzlers' ability to persevere and succeed with little training and few assets fueled what would become a nearly 40-year collaboration that combined Gertrud's elegant and classically formed ceramic vessels with Otto's multifaceted glaze formulations and firing techniques. With less than a year of training, Otto describes the couple's beginning years in their Vienna studio: 'Our lack of knowledge went hand in hand with a lack of inhibitions.' Their continual experimentation with materials and methods led to these wafer-thin vessels that glow from vibrantly hued glazes with both the smoothness of glass and the roughness of volcanic lava."

The gallery is located just off the gallery walkway near the contemporary project space.

The Museum's new objects conservation lab is up and running. Among the myriad of projects underway is the continuing research on the Museum's Guanyin Bodhisattva.

So far they have discovered some modern-day restorations to the Guanyin including nails, screws and a mending plate that is holding together a crack in the sculpture's body.

Overall, the Guanyin is in excellent condition which is very rare for these types of scultpure. Conservation scientist John Twilley continues to study the pigment to find out what is original to the sculpture and what has been added in the past 1,000 or so years.

In preparation for the upcoming exhibition Tapping Currents: Contemporary African Art and the Diaspora, I have been doing some research on the artists and their works.

Something interesting about the contemporary African artists in the exhibition is that many of them do not live in Africa and some of them spent most of their lives outside of Africa. The theme that holds the show together is that they are all inspired in some way by the colors, politics and geography of the African continent.

One artist that has spent most of his life in the US is Odili Donald Odita. Odita was at the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati just a few weeks ago painting a site-specific installation called FLOW in their main lobby. You can watch the progress here. The work will be on view through November 2008.

Tapping Currents opens to the public this Saturday, Nov. 17 at the Nelson-Atkins. The exhibition is free.

The ever informative and entertaining Modern Art Notes has a clever little post this morning. It seems the Nelson-Atkins fabulous new Bloch Building was slighted in a very important article that ran in the New York Sun last week. One of the Museum's greatest advocates simply wanted to correct the mistake. I have no problem with that, Mr. MAN.

The Kansas City Sculpture Park is lovely year round but it is truly magical in the fall. This weekend would be a great time to enjoy the majesty of falling leaves and crisp autumn air. Bring a blanket for what might be your last picnic opportunity of the year.

As promised, I am able to report that the installation for the upcoming exhibition Tapping Currents: Contemporary African Art and the Diaspora is going well. Most of the major works of art have been installed including Dispersion by Julie Mehretu seen here on the left.

Associate Curator of Contemporary Art Leesa Fanning writes about the painting:
"Julie Mehretu’s Dispersion is composed of intricately arranged ribbons of color, amorphous and hard-edge shapes, cartoon-like explosions and structural lines with geometric and architectural references. Within this maelstrom of activity are trajectories of swift motion and recession into space. Functioning as a futuristic diagram, Dispersion’s forms suggest psychological processes, imaginary societies and instantaneous global communications in cyberspace."

Another work of art that fascinates me is called Hovor by El Anastui (seen on the far wall above). It is made of recycled aluminum liquor-bottle tops that have been flattened and stitched together using copper wire. Fanning describes Hover as "an amazing transformation of humble, recycled liquor-bottle tops into a visually compelling sculpture."

A new exhibition is opening soon called Tapping Currents: Contemporary African Art and the Diaspora. The exhibition focuses on the explosion of contemporary African art in the last 20 years. I had a chance to see some of the works of art as they were being opened by the preparation team. This painting is Fusion by Odili Donald Odita from 2006. It is absolutely beautiful in person.

The process is quite efficient. After the crate is opened, the work is inspected by a conservator, registrar and the prep team for any damages that may have occurred during shipping. After a full inspection, the work is moved with great care to a cart to travel to the gallery.

Later today, I'm going to check on the progess in the gallery. Stay tuned.

German artist Otto Piene arrived at the Nelson-Atkins this afternoon for his lecture tonight. After a quick run through of this evening's program, he was escorted on a tour of the Bloch Building.

As he walked into the Isamu Noguchi Sculpture Court he was drawn to the sculpture called Fountain. As he stood mesmerized he asked if we had much trouble with vandalism. We told him that we do have curious children but most people are respectful of the art. He responded that he thought it was due to the power of the space and the presence of the artwork itself. The more magical a work of art is, the more secure it is from being damaged.

Another thing about the building that he found interesting was the amount of doors. There are seven doors to the Bloch Building. During Museum hours, all the doors are unlocked. Since admission to the Museum is free, visitors are allowed to come and go as they please. He mentioned how unusual that is for a major museum and what a task it must be to manage. He also mention what a powerful statement it is that we will open our doors completely to the community. Mr. Piene lives with his wife in the countryside of Germany. His wife believes quite emphatically that one should never lock their doors but instead trust in your fellow human beings.

If you are interested in hearing more from Mr. Piene, be sure to come for his lecture at 6 p.m. tonight.

I can't believe that another year has gone by and it is time for the third annual Member Appreciation Weekend. Beginning tomorrow, the Museum presents a weekend full of special programs to celebrate the ongoing support of our members and community.

The weekend is filled with many activities including the first ever members book club, unique workshops and tours, family presentations, a holiday cooking class, musical performances and more.

If that isn't enough to convince you to come on down, on Friday, members will enjoy an extra 5% discount in the Museum Store plus free gift wrapping.

Members of the public may enjoy some of the activities, too, but the real fun will be had by our deserving members. If you're not a member, join today so you won't miss any of the fun.