Blog @ the Nelson-Atkins

Aaron Douglas is called the Father of Black American Art. The Topeka, Kans - born artist was a leader in the Harlem Renaissance and a freedom fighter for the "universality of humankind." Professor David Driskell is considered the foremost authority on Aaron Douglas. He spoke this past weekend at the Museum to celebrate the acquisition of a new work.

In case you missed the lecture, you can hear an interview with Professor Driskell on the local NPR affiliate KCUR-FM.

The Museum Store is now full of delightful holiday items from books and cards to ornaments of all shapes and sizes. Local artist Irma Starr has lovely holiday additions to her line of reproductions of the Museum's famous Burnap Collection of English slipware and pottery. My all-time favorite piece is her reproduction of our Owl Jug which was affectionately named Arthur, or 'Art' for short, in a naming contest by one of the Museum's members.

The item that caught my eye today was this quirky little gnome ornament (above). Special holiday items will be available through the New Year.

Most people walk in to a museum or gallery and are amazed by the works of art but I wonder how many people think about how the paintings and objects got there. All of the works in the new Bloch Building had to be moved at least one time. Some had been on view in the Nelson-Atkins Building previously. They had to be de-installed and moved to storage and then re-installed in the new spaces. The task was enormous and took the better part of a year to accomplish.

I found some great photos from the installation of the contemporary galleries. Above is Large Stack by Donald Judd that has one of the best locations in the new building.

I also found these great shots of the Museum's prep team installing Art Part by Elizabeth Murray. They started with a paper mock up of the painting to determine the lay out. Once everything was marked, the 22 separate canvases were installed piece by piece. Kind of like a big jigsaw puzzle except you can't lose any pieces!

The Kansas City Sculpture Park is so versatile. Spring is beautiful with the early blooms of flowers and trees. The fall is a great time to bring a frisbee to throw around or a blanket to read a book during the final days of warm temperatures. Even in the throes of a Kansas City summer, the Park is bright and cheery to look at from inside the air-conditioned Museum or driving by in your car. But when it snows (whether it is winter or still fall like today), the Park takes on a magical quality.

It looks like at least a couple of inches have fallen since around 9 a.m. making the Park look something more like this:

You can learn more about the Sculpture Park including works or art, horticulture and things to do here.

You might have seen in the news recently that a rare daguerreotype of Civil War activist and abolitionist John Brown was purchased by an unidentified buyer at auction. Portrait of John Brown was acquired by the Nelson-Atkins through the generosity of the Hall Family Foundation (a la Hallmark Photography Collection and Hallmark Cards, Inc.).

The work is one of only six known daguerreotypes taken of Brown and is possibly the earliest, ca. 1846-1847. The image was captured by Augustus Washington, one of a few African-Americans daguerreotypists at the time.

Brown's portrait joins the Museum's photography collection, which is considered to be one of the broadest and most definitive holdings of 19th-century American photography, with a particular strength in daguerreotypes.

Portrait of John Brown will be on view in March 2008. Before then, be sure to visit the featured exhibition Developing Greatness: The Origins of American Photography, 1839-1885 on view through December 30 to get a look at some of the first photographic images ever created.

Paul Goldberger, the acclaimed architect critic for The New Yorker, will speak tonight to a sold out crowd at the Nelson-Atkins. His lecture will focus on the enduring effects of architecture.

This has been a very busy year for Goldberger who received both the Lifetime Achievement Award in Literary Arts from Guild Hall and the Award for Professional Excellence from The Ed Bacon Foundation.

Goldberger wrote a glowing review of the Bloch Building earlier this year in which he states, "As it turns out, the building, which will open in June, is not just Holl’s finest by far but also one of the best museums of the last generation. Its boldness is no surprise, but, in addition, it is laudably functional, with a clear layout, handsome and logically designed galleries, and a suffusion of natural light. Furthermore, Holl’s five glass structures, punctuating the hill, don’t mock the old building as you might expect; they dance before it and engage it."

Today was the official staff open house for the new objects conservation lab. Normally, we're not allowed in unless we have a very good reason for being there (i.e. finding interesting things to blog about).

The new lab is completely state-of-the-art with fancy hoses and lights dangling from the ceiling that can be controlled with the push of a button. Their new location on the ground floor allows them to work on even the largest works of art (they were previously located in a penthouse on the roof of the Nelson-Atkins Building).

For instance, if one of the Henry Moore sculptures in the Kansas City Sculpture Park needed to be brought in for repairs, they could bring it right into the lab and park it in the new clean room (above). It doesn't look that big from the picture but it can hold something roughly the size of a Mini Cooper.

If you are a conservation geek like me, be sure to check out conservation on our website.

2007 is nearly wrapped up and as publications across the country are rounding up the year, the Nelson-Atkins has found itself atop one of the best lists... TIME magazine has declared the Bloch Building the #1 Architectural Marvel of 2007. From Beijing to San Francisco, Kansas City tops the list. So if you've been waiting to stop by, now is the time. And remember, the Museum is free everyday for everyone, so come on over.

I am happy to introduce a new voice on the Nelson-Atkins blog. "Barb the Builder" will update us frequently on the progress of the American and American Indian gallery renovations on the second floor of the Nelson-Atkins Building.

And now, from Barb the Builder:

Demolished materials from the former American period rooms, including antique wood beams and ceiling planks, lie in a jumbled heap on the floor of their former home. Their demise reveals the infrastructure of the 1933 building, including tar-coated brick walls −a moisture-barrier technique used in the original construction. Have we ever come a long way since then!

This space will become two large American art galleries. Directly above, on a mezzanine level, was the old studio for the Museum’s graphic design department. This mezzanine floor will be cut away, resulting in more expansive ceiling heights in the new American galleries. One of the period rooms, the Hooper room (from the Robert Hooper House
of Danvers, Massachusetts ca. 1754), will be reinstalled immediately east of the old contemporary art space, directly across from the south elevator.

A beautiful, 2,500-year-old woman made her way into the objects conservation lab this week. Meretities was the daughter of a high-level priest in the fourth or fifth century B.C. She wears an elaborately decorated robe and an expression of serenity.

Meretities will remain in the conservation lab for awhile. Museum conservators will do a complete technical analysis to determine her exact condition and what might need to be done to ensure she will last for many more years. They will also study the rare pigments that were used to decorate her.

The coffin is part of a recent Museum acquisition that includes a gilded mask, statuettes of goddesses and 306 tomb figures.

The conservation lab will not be Meretites' final resting place. She will be installed in specially designed galleries in the ancient collection in 2010. You may read more about her in today's issue of the Kansas City Star.

This will be the last post for a few days while I am away for the holidays. The Museum is closed on Dec. 24 and 25 but we open at 10 a.m. on the 26th so bring your family, friends and out-of-town guests by for a visit. There is plenty to see and do including the final days of the amazing exhibition of photography, Developing Greatness: The Origins of American Photography, 1839-1885.

The Museum's popular murals by Thomas Hart Benton have been reinstalled in Atkins Auditorium. The richly colored paintings enliven the auditorium and will be a pleasant distraction when attending our monthly staff meetings (not that they aren't entertaining enough in themselves).

The auditorium isn't quite open yet for the public. I will be sure to let you know as soon as I do.

The Bloch Building continues to be hailed as one of the best buildings of 2007. In addition to Time Magazine's Richard Lacayo annointing it as the #1 New Architectural marvel, the building has appeared in "best of 2007" lists in publications including Newsweek and the Chicago Tribune.

It would be easy to sit back and rest on our laurels but that is just not our style. In 2008, the Nelson-Atkins will celebrate its 75th anniversary and will host the international exhibition Art in the Age of Steam. In 2009, the Museum will unveil completely renovated and reinstalled galleries for the American and American Indian collections, and in 2010, the redesigned galleries for the Ancient collection will open with a beautiful new dispaly of Egyptian masterpieces.

While 2007 was definitely the year of the Bloch Building I am looking forward to a great and exciting future for the Nelson-Atkins.