Blog @ the Nelson-Atkins

This Independence weekend is the perfect opportunity to celebrate America's history with a tour of the Museum's new galleries of American art.

The new installation features paintings and works on paper mixed with sculpture and decorative arts. It is organized around 6 key dates in American history to give visitors contextual connections to the works of art.

Please note: If you do stop by this weekend, make sure to plan ahead. We are closed on Saturday, July 4th but open regular hours on Friday (10 a.m. to 9 p.m.) and Sunday (Noon to 5 p.m.).

Just for fun, let's enjoy a little American history lesson as we tour the galleries.

1776: From Colonies to Country - Significant works of art in this section divide among Boston, Philadelphia and Great Britain indicating the relationship of these art centers for early American artists. This section includes portraits by John Copley and paintings by the Peale family (Charles and Raphaelle). My favorite part of this section would have to be the Hall from the Hooper House. Robert Hooper was a loyalist who permitted his home to be used as British headquarters before the Battle of Lexington and Concord. Mr. Hooper soon lost his fortune as the Revolutionay War began to look hopeful for the colonists.

1826: Promoting Republican Values - This second section covers the years of 1805 to 1840. During these years America saw great expansion in size directly following the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. The founding of the National Academy of Design in New York launched the professional status and increased the availability of formal training for artists. Images of American daily life could be found in works such as Winding Up (right) by William Sydney Mount. Coinciding with the expansion in territory, this period saw the creation of the quintessential American subject, the landscape, indicated in Jacob Ward's Natural Bridge, Virginia.

1850: Producing the National Ideal - 1850 marks the mid-point of the 19th century which was the 75th anniversary of the United States. It also was marked by the Compromise of 1850 which set the course for the western territories and the move toward secession by the Southern states. Life and the democratic process on the frontier are recorded in paintings by George Caleb Bingham such as Canvassing for a Vote. Landscape was used to promote the idea of manifest destiny in works such as Thomas Cole's The Old Mill and Thomas Otter's On the Road. The year 1850 also saw an influx of European immigrants who added their international style to American decorative arts.

1886: Joining the International Arena - The late 19th century saw a return to Europe for American artists. The first Impressionist exhibition of 1886 created a surge of internationalism in American art that continues today. Artists traveled to and worked in other countries including Frederick Edwin Church (Jersulem from the Mount of Olives), John Singer Sargent (Mrs. Cecil Wade) and Henry Ossawa Tanner (The Sabot Maker). Decorative arts such as John La Farge's Peonies Blowing in the Wind demonstrate how American manufacturers had achieved skills comparable to European makers and the inspiration of the Far East for design.

1913: Wrestling with the Modern - The span of 1900 to 1927 encompassed unprecedented transformations in American life related to advances in technology and the impact of World War I. 1913 saw the creation of the Federal Reserve Banking system, the moving assembly line by Ford Motor Co., and the first home electric refrigerator. Of course, 1913 is known in art history for the landmark Armory Show which showcased both European and American vanguard art including Marcel Duchamp's infamous Fountain. Marsden Hartley's Himmel always seems out of place to me in the American collection but his work was a signal of the changing attitudes toward American art.

1939: The World of Tomorrow - The beginning of World War II signaled the end of the Great Depression. A new era of cultural affairs, economics and science was promoted in the 1939 World's Fair - "Building a World of Tomorrow." Though civil rights was a few decades away, the results of America's racism was beginning to appear in works such as Joseph Hirsch's The Lynch Family. American artists such as Thomas Hart Benton (Persephone) and John Steuart Curry (The Bathers) created a new style called regionalism that was frought with classical connotations while adding a sense of American irony.

Today I was thrilled to get my first curator-led tour of the newly-opened American Art galleries. I already had a sneak peek at the installation process a couple of weeks ago, but I still wasn’t prepared for the stunning perfection of the final product.

We started with the Hall from the Robert Hooper House, which dates back to circa 1754 and is the only period room featured in the galleries. Before the renovation, there were five period rooms, but now curators have integrated pieces from those rooms into the early galleries. With only three or four exceptions, all of the works in the installation were made for private homes, so integrating the collections gives us a sense of how people actually lived with these pieces in their daily lives.

As I walked into Hooper Hall, I was immediately struck by the bright color and texture of the paint on the walls. Now restored, to its original dimensions and colors, these are the original pine panels that made up the hall, or primary room for entertaining, in the Hooper’s house in Danvers, Massachusetts. The varnished robin’s egg-blue looks nothing like the matte-finished, smooth surfaces we expect to see in upscale homes today, but a curator explained that this painting style was typical of the era. Before gas lighting and electricity, the Hoopers would have depended only on sunlight and candles to light a room. The additional varnished sheen on the walls reflects light that would have allowed Hooper and his guests to enjoy a night’s entertainment of card games or dancing even after sunset.

Hooper was a renowned Loyalist during the American Revolution; the commander-in-chief of the British forces was once his houseguest. After the Revolutionaries won the war, Hooper lost much of his wealth. His estate was largely sold off, so the furniture we see in the room did not belong to him. Still, it is appropriate for this mid- to late-18th century setting, and we can easily imagine the portly Hooper lounging by the fire in a large wingchair like the one in our collection.

There are several exceptional pieces in Hooper Hall, but my favorite is the Desk and Bookcase, made in Boston between 1770-1790. It is made of beautifully-carved mahogany and brass, and I counted no fewer than 29 different drawers! On the back wall are also two portraits by Mather Brown of an anonymous, though certainly well-off, man and woman. Brown was a student of Gilbert Stuart, and you can see Stuart’s influence on him in these portraits.

After you walk outside the Hall from the Hooper House, turn back one last time and you’ll see John Singleton Copley’s portraits of John Barrett and his wife. Copley’s subjects were noted supporters of the Revolution and would surely not have been welcome in Hooper’s Loyalist home, so it’s fitting that their portraits hang outside the Hall as well.

After talking to curators, looking at the art, and listening to the wonderful audio guide tour, I have a much better understanding of the pieces in our incredible American collection. I’m excited to share what I have learned in the coming weeks, and excited to hear about your reactions to our new galleries!

What's more American than baseball? Today, Kansas City is celebrating the home opener for the Royals including their brand new stadium which I've heard is very cool.

Soon, we will be celebrating our own opening day when the new American Art Galleries open on April 22.

I haven't had a chance to view the new galleries for a few months; long before most of the art was installed. The photography I have seen is amazing. I can't wait to get in and do some poking around on my own.

The Kansas City Star has a nice slideshow on their site today. Click here to view.

The American Art galleries have been under construction for months, but last week I was lucky to get a sneak preview of these stunning works of art before they go on display to the public again in mid-April. As I listened to our curators make final decisions about where objects will go and watched our installation staff install each piece, I became more and more excited about the opening.

I was thrilled to revisit old favorites from the collection, like Raphaelle Peale’s Venus Rising From the Sea—A Deception and Charles Sheeler’s Conference No. 1. These paintings were completed more than a century apart from one another—the collection spans from the 17th century through World War II—but they are both wonderful examples of specific moments in American art and culture.

The freshly-painted walls throughout the galleries help bring out the rich colors and details of these and other works. The curators have carefully chosen a palette that reflects the history behind them. One curator told me that when many of these paintings were originally displayed, they would have been hung on colored walls rather than the white gallery walls we usually see.

My favorite part about the new galleries is the seamless integration of pieces of decorative art. Finely-crafted furniture, detailed vases, elaborate clocks—adorn many rooms. These pieces add three-dimensional texture and vibrancy to the galleries and interact with the paintings to enhance both collections. Walking around, I easily imagined connections between these decorative pieces and the paintings that gave me a better understanding of their social and historical contexts.

The new galleries are incredible, and I really hated to leave even after I wandered around every room. I’m planning to visit again as soon as they re-open on April 22, and I hope to report back even more after another look!

As we approach the opening of the reinstalled American galleries in April, we are already looking ahead to the American Indian galleries that will open in November. Today, we took a walking tour with the curator and even though the floors are covered with cardboard and there are construction materials everywhere, the space is simply stunning.

For those of you familiar with the Nelson-Atkins, the new American Indian galleries will be on the second floor in the former Modern & Contemporary galleries. Where the Sol Le Witt and Duane Hanson's Museum Guard once stood will be cases and cases of the most amazing works of art from our American Indian collection.

The entire space is just over 6,000 square feet and will contain around 210 objects. About half of those objects have been collected since 2002 and only a few of those have ever been on view at the Nelson-Atkins.

The art won't be installed for many months but I am already anticipating learning more about the masterpieces we will have to offer to the public.

Rowland Hall, a pivotal gallery in the new American wing, is now complete, with a scheduled opening in April 2009. With its exquisite vaulted ceilings, luminous skylights, richly colored walls and walnut flooring (some protective floor covering remains in place), it is a stunning showplace for the Museum’s collection of American works dating from 1700 to 1830.

Positioned in the center of the gallery is a freestanding wall that serves as a backdrop for American decorative arts and furniture. Shown here in a paper cutout is Chest-on-Chest, ca. 1760, attributed to Nathaniel Gould, the leading cabinetmaker of Salem, Massachusetts, in the third quarter of the eighteenth century.

One of my favorite parts about working at a museum is getting to know the stories behind the works of art. A recent special project, 365 Days of Art, has better acquainted and re-acquanted me with some interesting tales.

One of my favorites is about a painting from the American collection by Gilbert Stuart, an artist who gained fame for painting portraits of George Washington. This painting is of Dr. William Aspinwall, a renowned doctor who had served as deputy director of the hospital in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts during the Revolutionary War.

The official story goes that the painting was almost destroyed in July 1834, when a proslavery mob wrecked the home of Dr. Aspinwall's abolitionist daughter and son-in-law in New York City. The rioters burned most of the furniture in the street, but they spared the painting because they mistook it for Stuart's famous portrait of George Washington (The Collections of The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, American Paintings to 1945). The real portrait of Washington is now at the National Gallery in Washington D.C. Here is a fun look at it on their website.

I would like to thank those conscientious rioters for sparing Dr. Aspinwall so that his portrait may grace our new American galleries set to open April 17, 2009.

Tucked away above the galleries and buzz of daily museum life sits an orderly studio that is home to the Paintings Conservation Department. It is here, in a room awash in natural light, full of interesting tools and brushes, that science and art come together to breath new life into many of the Museum’s precious works of art. With the reinstalled American Galleries opening in mid-April, Conservators Scott Heffley and Mary Schafer graciously invited staff up for a "behind the scenes" look at the inner workings of their studio and the projects they’ve undertaken in preparation for this much-anticipated occasion.

Our tour included an in-depth look at John Gadsby Chapman’s A Lazy Fisherman. Under Scott’s skilled hand years of grime and multiple layers of varnish have been carefully removed. We learned that all of his repairs are visible when the painting is viewed under black light. This feature makes it easy to determine the work of the conservator versus that of the original artist. As Scott moved the lamp across the canvas three months of painstaking work became instantly recognizable—the fixed tears in the bottom left corner, the area of inpainting beneath the young fisherman’s rocky perch and repaired abrasions across the surface of the water.

Mary then shared the fascinating story of George and Emma Eastman by Calvin Balis. The work was commissioned by the family in 1850, sold as a play prop in 1931 and purchased by the Nelson-Atkins in 1933. It had numerous areas in need of repair, including a curious teal-colored section near Emma’s head. After thorough analysis under a microscope Mary determined it was oil paint, which is unsafe to remove because of the permanent bond it forms with the original paint. Using a series of glazes she was able to perfectly match the colors of the surrounding hills.

Let me just say that, in person, the restored works are simply stunning (click on the linked titles to view "before" images). A Lazy Fisherman and George and Emma Eastman have never looked better thanks to Scott and Mary’s tremendous talents. If this preview is any indication, the unveiling of the reinstalled American Galleries will be, simply put, spectacular!

Pictured here is an “island” of casework installed in the center of one of the new American Indian galleries.

The new cases are made up of three basic components: the top section contains the object lighting; the major central portion comprises the display area; and the lowest section houses trays that are filled with silica gel to buffer unexpected humidity changes in the galleries. Interior case walls provide a neutral background palette in shades of light to dark gray.

These cases are being fabricated by the same company that worked on the cases for the African galleries in the Bloch Building.

Two of the new American galleries are now complete and ready for art installation, which will begin in January 2009. The respective rooms are painted in rich, deep shades of red and green.

The white cutout space in the mid-ground of the green room will house the John La Farge stained glass window, Peonies Blowing in the Wind, from 1889. The American galleries are scheduled to open in April 2009.

Today, I was lucky enough to get a tour of the new American galleries with curators Margi Conrads and Catherine Futter.

A total of 8 galleries will display paintings, furniture, sculpture, works on paper and decorative objects from Colonial times to World War II. The collection will be arranged both chronologically as well as geographically.

Six key dates will provide visitors with context and connections to what was happening in both American life/history and in American art at that time. My favorite guiding principle was explained by Margi when she noted that certain paintings or artists needed to be next to each other because you must "obey the paintings."

The new galleries are gorgeous, even without the art. My pictures certainly don't do it justice so make sure you plan a vist next year. The new installation is scheduled to open in April 2009.

Installation of American Indian casework has begun in the new gallery spaces. The cases, conceived by the Museum’s Design Department, are being fabricated in Milan, Italy, by the world-renowned firm of Laboratorio Museotecnico Goppion, and are being installed on site by Italian crews from that firm.

Goppion fabricators and installers also did the African and Contemporary Ceramics casework in the new Bloch Building. In the photo, only the steel backs and sides of the cases can be seen. Interiors and glass work comprise later stages.

It takes a lot of sand to make up the setting bed for the Israeli stone (seen atop the wheelbarrow in the foreground) that will comprise the floor of the new American Indian galleries.

Chosen for its soft gray color, which complements the overall palette of the galleries, the natural limestone floor will span an area of nearly 7,000 square feet. The vertical steel beams seen in the photo are part of the structural support system for the 38 cases (currently being shipped from Milan, Italy, where they were fabricated) that will display 175 artifacts from the Museum’s outstanding American Indian collection.

The new galleries will open fall 2009.

In preparation for the re-opening of the American galleries next spring, the conservators are busy restoring, cleaning and touching up pieces of furniture that will be on display.

One of the pieces is this Chest-on-Chest that dates from circa 1760. The conservator told me this is one of the best pieces in the collection and it seemed to my untrained eye to be in excellent condition. The piece is actually two pieces that can be used separately. Many times, the pieces will be sold or given away to different people. Luckily, this one remains happily together.

When I stopped by, the drawer pulls had been removed minus one that was being stubborn. The conservator had cleaned one of the pulls and applied a clear coat.

The pulls are most likely the originals because when they were removed there were no additional outlines or shadows found on the wood underneath. The bottom drawer was a little suspect because the shadows looked odd until they realized that the pulls had been removed at one time, probably for cleaning, and when they were reattached, they were put on upside down.

It definitely made me think twice about changing the pulls on my dresser.

Marble craftsmen in Italy do final cleaning and inspection of the columns that will stand in the antechambers of Rowland Hall in the new American galleries. The columns replicate those in the American Rotunda on the second floor of the Nelson-Atkins Building. The columns will travel from Italy to Spain, and then by ship to an American port. From there, they will travel overland by rail, scheduled to arrive at the Museum in late August. The American galleries will be completed in November and open in spring 2009.

In the new American galleries, a basic grid stands ready to receive the new glass laylight ceiling that is representative of the ceiling treatment in the existing adjoining galleries. Glass installation will begin in July.

Construction of the American art spaces will be complete in November 2008, with newly installed galleries scheduled to open spring 2009.

The new American Indian galleries, scheduled to open in November 2009, will include 38 glass cases for the display of objects. These cases were designed by Museum staff and are being fabricated in Milan, Italy, by Laboratorio Museotecnico Goppion, one of the world’s most prestigious casework manufacturers, who also made the cases for the African and contemporary ceramics galleries in the Museum’s new Bloch Building.

Some of the American Indian cases will contain glass panes as tall as 10 feet, and 13 feet wide. The resulting weight is such that special structural steel beams have been attached to the existing ceiling and wall infrastructure to provide support. Shown here are some of these red iron beams, looking for all the world like a steel trapeze frozen in time and space.

Last week, a group of Museum staff got a behind-the-scenes tour of the renovation going on in the American and American Indian galleries. It blew my socks off! The space will be absolutely amazing.

We started in the hallway that used to hold the Thomas Hart Benton murals. It took me a few minutes to remember what that space used to look like. Here are the galleries just off the hallway. They are putting in huge electrical upgrades and special art-hanging walls.

The main hall in the American section will be called Rowland Hall. It will contain art beginning in 1776 and the architecture will match that time period.

We learned a little about the safety upgrades and saw some of the original clay tile walls from the 1930s.

The American Indian galleries were not as far along but the red iron supports are in place for the casework that will be throughout the spaces. They will be the same specially crafted cases that are in the African galleries in the Bloch Building. There will be 37 cases in the American Indian rooms.

I'll let Barb the Builder tell you about those things in detail. Be sure to keep reading!

In the new American galleries, Rowland Hall will showcase American works dating from 1776, the period of America’s independence, forward into the 1800s. The hall, inspired by the Federalist architecture of Robert Adam, will be graced with elegant coves and wall niches, marble columns and circular skylights. Robert Adam really changed the way people thought about the architecture of antiquity through his extensive research and study experiences. Architects today still look back on basic principles brought to fruition by the person to whom the Nelson-Atkins' Rowland Hall will be paying homage.

Shown here is the framework for one of the two skylights (center), together with the rough placement for the other (upper left). The metal braces that hang down from the ceiling in a circular pattern form a ledge upon which the pie-wedged glass laylights will rest. Lighting fixtures above the glass will be focused upward toward the ceiling, which will be painted white. The white ceiling and frame will reflect and redirect the light downward through the glass. You'll be able to see these beautiful skylights yourself in April 2009.

If you like comparing “before and after” images or the Big Reveal at the end of a home makeover reality show, you won’t want to miss the sneak-peek debut of two reupholstered and conserved, 19th-century American sofas at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art on Thursday, May 1.

A Neoclassical sofa and a Renaissance Revival settee have gone from grungy to glamorous thanks to a Conservation Project Support Grant by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). For many years, the pieces’ condition prevented their exhibition, but soon they will be displayed in the reinstalled galleries of the American collections, opening Spring 2009.

The first part of the program is a conservation workshop. Conservator Robert Mussey of Robert Mussey Associates of Boston, will join Museum curator Catherine Futter and conservator Joe Rogers as they present art historical background on the pieces and how they were conserved.

Later that evening, enjoy a lecture by Peter Kenny, American Decorative Arts Curator at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, as he places the Nelson-Atkins’ sofa and settee in the context of Neoclassical and Renaissance Revival furniture of 19th-century America and the thriving furniture manufacturing industry in New York City.

Submitted by Elizabeth Williams, Assistant Curator of Decorative Arts.

Like a fanned hand of cards, played by a giant, old ductwork in the Nelson-Atkins Building splays out across the ceiling in one of the new American Art spaces.

Much of the old ventilation system has been completely demolished in the renovation process, but this particular run of duct will remain and become part of the new installation, giving us a slight twist on the old song – some things old are new again.

More than 75 years ago, workers who helped to create the beloved Nelson-Atkins Building left behind a witness to their pride of workmanship and its place in the Museum’s birth.

On a wall just inside the American Gallery construction site, the following was recently discovered: “WR Cromwell, Paper Hangar [sic], May, 10, 1932.” Similar signatures have been found in other Museum areas that have recently been renovated, most especially at the top of the cove walls of Kirkwood Hall, when that space was completed in 2005.

Whether signatures are left behind to attest to the work that is ongoing today – or not – we may never know. Nonetheless, pride of place is repeatedly demonstrated in the quality of work and depth of care that we see daily displayed in the current American/American Indian Gallery project.

William Shakespeare said it very well in The Merchant of Venice, and it is no less applicable here. A gleaming wall in the soon-to-be American galleries is not gold – nor, indeed, silver – no matter how it glistens in the light. It is a wall of insulation that has been placed in front of the old tar-covered interior walls of the Nelson-Atkins Building.

This silvery insulation will prevail throughout the newly renovated spaces. On the floor in the foreground lie steel beams that will support the floor of a mechanical mezzanine in this area. The renovated American galleries will open in April 2009.

. . . adds up to a whole lot – in this case, updated electrical systems for the new American galleries. Square elements shown upper and middle right are sections of Unistrut metal framing. Secured to the ceiling more than 25 feet above the gallery floor, and well above the height of the gallery ceilings themselves, this framework supports vertical hangers that drop down to hold suspended trays for runs of cable or high-power bus duct, a system of enclosed circuitry. The round metal tubes comprise conduit for standard electrical wiring.

It looks rather like a perpetual motion roller coaster or a suspended playground jungle gym (note the floor below). Viewed from an abstract perspective, it might even constitute a contemporary piece of sculpture. Actually, it is part of the steel framework that supports the concrete slab above, which made up the floor of the old mezzanine above the former American period rooms. It is all gone now, resulting in a cavernous and empty space. It will soon begin a process of transformation, eventually housing two of the new galleries in the renovated American wing, which is scheduled to open in spring 2009.

Here's another installment from Barb the Builder about the renovation of the American and American Indian galleries.

I'll build a stairway to Paradise
with a new step ev'ry day!
I'm gonna get there at any price;
Stand aside, I'm on my way!

With apologies to George Gershwin, we could well be singing these very words today. Certainly we’re taking lots of new steps and are on our way toward our latest construction project − the complete renovation of the American and American Indian galleries in the Nelson-Atkins Building. Seen here, standing stalwart while much around it is crumbling away, is the stair in the former collection photography studio, which led to a small mezzanine office. Days after this photo was taken, the stair itself was demolished and faded into oblivion, making way for a new gallery that will feature works dated circa 1776.

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.