User:ArinLeighB/Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art

Ancient

A child looking at an ancient Egyptian statue in 1985

With works from the ancient world, this includes locations like: Egypt, Greece, Rome, and Near Eastern. Portraits of pharaohs and Egyptian queens like Sen-useret III, Ramses II, Nefert-iti, the Ptolemy Dynasty are the most notable in the Egyptian collection. Near Eastern works includes jewelry from the early of kings and queens at Ur and sculptures from the 1st-millennium B.C.E. Palace of Ashurnasirpal II in Nimrud and the ceremonial center of the Persian Empire, Persepolis. Greek works are mostly statues and pottery from the 5th to 1st century B.C.E. of the Greek deities and heroes like Helios, Apollo, Demeter, Achilles, and Heracles. Roman statues of the emperors Alexander Severus and Hadrian, with other roman works from early Christian period (4th to 7th century A.D) among them is a limestone sculpture of Thecla, the first female catholic martyr.

European

The museum's European painting collection is highly prized It includes works by: Caravaggio, Jusepe de Ribera, Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin, Petrus Christus,Gustave Courbet, El Greco,Giambattista Pittoni, Guercino, Alessandro Magnasco, Giuseppe Bazzani, Corrado Giaquinto, Cavaliere d'Arpino, Gaspare Traversi, Giuliano Bugiardini, Titian, Hieronymus Bosch, Rembrandt, Louise Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun, Peter Paul Rubens, Gustave Caillebotte, Edgar Degas, Paul Gauguin,Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, Vincent van Gogh

Les Boules de Neige by Pierre Bonnard

In early 2016, The Temptation of St. Anthony, a small panel long attributed to the workshop of Hieronymus Bosch was credited to the painter himself after forensic investigation of its underpainting; it was added to the ranks of only 25 authenticated Bosch paintings in the world. The Nelson-Atkins also has fine Late Gothic and Early Italian Renaissance paintings by Jacopo del Casentino (The Presentation of Christ in the Temple), Giovanni di Paolo and Workshop, Bernardo Daddi and Workshop, Lorenzo Monaco, Gherardo Starnina (The Adoration of the Magi), and Lorenzo di Credi. It has German and Austrian Expressionist paintings by Max Beckmann, Karl Hofer (Record Player), Emil Nolde, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Oskar Kokoschka (Pyramids of Egypt).

Nelson Atkins has worked with Nazi-era art pieces that are often made by Jewish, Romani, queer, or otherwise against the nazi ideal in the 1920-40s though mostly focuses on art made and owned by Jewish people. Many pieces were either destroyed, rescued, or sold for cheap. They work on researching pieces and working with the descendants of the owners or artists. depending on the descendants wishes, the pieces are either returned or allowed to stay on display. One of the most famous nazi-era pieces is a still life, Les Boules de Neige, by Pierre Bonnard, which was held in the Altaussee salt mine and taken from the French banker David David-Weill. The museum has a list of their works held on their website and the American Alliance of Museums' Nazi-Era Provenance Internet Portal (NEPIP)

Asian

Fragments of Buddhist Wall Painting, 6th century China

The museum is distinguished (and widely celebrated) for its extensive collection of Asian art, especially that of Imperial China Most of it was purchased for the museum in the early 20th century by Laurence Sickman, then a Harvard fellow in China. The museum has one of the best collections of Chinese antique furniture in the country, including one of the celebrated group of glazed pottery luohans from Yixian (c. 1000).

In addition to Chinese art, the collection includes pieces from Japan including screen and scroll pieces by Kaihō Yūshō, Tawaraya Sōtatsu, Ikeno Taiga, and Shiokawa Bunrin. The collection of woodblock pieces number around 500 with works by Katsushika Hokusai and Utagawa Hiroshige in it . They also have a collection of sculptures, ceramics, and textile works.

The Asian collection includes pieces from Afghanistan, India, Iran, Indonesia, Korea, Pakistan, and other Southeast/ South Asia.

African

Most of the artworks in the museum were created by artists largely from West and Central Africa, primarily the countries of Mali, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Museum has a small collection from East and South Africa, including a mask carved by a Yao artist from Tanzania and beaded capes created by Zulu artists in the country of South Africa.

Royal Asante stool, 1860

Horse and Rider, 16th century

The Nelson-Atkins began collecting African art in the 1930s, with many notable acquisitions including two 17th-century cast brass objects from the Benin Kingdom in Nigeria in 1958. While the collection grew slowly until 1983, subsequent years saw more aggressive acquisitions. In 2012, African art gallery curator, Nii Quarcoopome, has worked to add more content and ways for audiences to interact by including videos and photographs showing visitors how objects are used in ceremonies or everyday life. It includes 400 objects made from wood, brass, bead, terracotta, ivory and natural fibers. They have a variety of different cultures and tradition inside of the art world of the continent. These include royal stool from the Asante people, Standing Male Figure made by a Hemba artist, group of Kuba textiles, a Royal Beaded Throne created by a Bansoa artist in the Bamileke kingdom, a Female Mask (Kifwebe) by Songye artists, and a shrine figure carved by a Baga artist. The oldest work in the collection is a rare and stunning terra-cotta Horse and Rider made by an artist of the Djenne culture in Mali that dates from the 16th century.

The museum held an exhibit called 'Through African Eyes: The European in African Art, 1500–Present' from September 25 2010 - January 09 2011. It was a examination of how African artists expressed the dynamic interactions between African cultures and Europeans and Westerners with 95 art pieces that reflect the theme from European colonization settlements in Africa, through the contemporary years of post-independence. Nii Quarcoopome was quoted as saying, "At the heart of the exhibition and its accompanying catalogue is the desire to give agency to African voices; indeed, the title, Through African Eyes, primarily obtains from this thinking. After all, what good is African art and history without the African voice?”. This exhibition has been organized by the Detroit Institute of Arts were the exhibit first appeared. With support provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts. In Kansas City the exhibition is supported by The Helzberg Fund for African Art. The museum has also held a talk in February 2018, discussing and educating the audience on Palbo Picasso and his relationship with the arts of Africa and the world, as he bought African art from shady art dealers. The speakers included Julián Zugazagoitia,director and exhibition curator at Nelson Atkins, and art historian Peter Stepan who wrote a book on the subject.

American

The America gallery contains art from American artists who aren't Native American. The collection includes the largest collection open to the public of works by Thomas Hart Benton, who lived in Kansas City. Among its collection are paintings by: George Bellows, George Caleb Bingham, Frederic Church, John Singleton Copley, Thomas Eakins, Winslow Homer, and John Singer Sargent. One of the more notable exhibits hosted was 30 Americans, which helps show and tell the lives of African Americans through the eyes of 30 different artists from all over the country, including works from Jean-Michel Basquiat, Carrie Mae Weems, Kerry James Marshall, Mickalene Thomas, Rashid Johnson, Kara Walker, Hank Willis Thomas, and Kehinde Wiley. It contained 80 paintings, drawings, prints, sculptures, photographs, and videos.

It also has fine Contemporary Paintings and Creations in the Bloch Building by Willem de Kooning, Fairfield Porter, Wayne Thiebaud, Richard Diebenkorn, Agnes Martin, Bridget Riley, and Alfred Jensen.

Modern

Tires for Pavement with Memory by Betsabee Romero

This collection covers artistic work produced from the 1860s -1970s, including the Cubism, Expressionism, Fauvism, Dada, Surrealism, Bauhaus and Abstract Expressionism art styles. The museum has thanked the Friends of Art group in Kansas City, the Hall Family Foundation, donations from other individuals, and companies (like Commerce Bank and Trust) for helping to acquire the art.

Pieces include works from: Pablo Picasso, Jackson Pollock, Ernst Barlach, Max Beckmann, Joseph Cornell, Juan Gris, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Paul Klee, Jacques Lipchitz, Roberto Matta Echaurren, Joan Miró, Ben Nicholson, Emil Nolde, Yves Tanguy, Willem de Kooning, Philip Guston, Grace Hartigan, Robert Motherwell, Constantin Brancusi, Alexander Calder, Alberto Giacometti, Henry Moore, Marcel Duchamp, Adolph Gottlieb, and Man Ray.

Photography

John Brown by Augustus Washington

The Photography galleries in the Bloch Building display a survey of the creative history of the medium from daguerreotypes to 21st-century processes. New installations are presented about three times a year.

In 2006, Hallmark Cards chairman Donald J. Hall, Sr. donated to the museum the entire Hallmark Photographic Collection, spanning the history of photography from 1839 to the present day. It is primarily American in focus, and includes works from photographers such as Southworth & Hawes, Carleton Watkins, Timothy O'Sullivan, Alvin Langdon Coburn, Alfred Stieglitz, Dorothea Lange, Homer Page, Harry Callahan, Lee Friedlander, Andy Warhol, Todd Webb, and Cindy Sherman, among others.

Contemporary

Contemporary art is located in the Bloch building and is defined in Nelson-Atkins as art from 1960 to present day. Styles include Pop, Minimalism, Conceptual and Realism, from different parts of the world and cultures. Art pieces are either gifts from The William T. Kemper Collecting Initiative or acquired or donated by famous artists like: Jackson Pollock, Andy Warhol, Anish Kapoor, Robert Rauschenberg, Yinka Shonibare, Duane Hansen, Louise Nevelson, Donald Judd, Robert Arneson, Jim Dine, Nancy Graves, Bridget Riley, Elizabeth Murray, Robert Mangold, Kerry James Marshall, El Anatsui, Raqib Shaw, Willem de Kooning, Mark Rothko, David Smith, Richard Diebenkorn, Richard Estes, Duane Hanson, Claes Oldenburg, Sol LeWitt, Agnes Martin, Bridget Riley, Martin Puryear, and Deborah Butterfield

The Noguchi Sculpture Court houses contemporary sculptures that were gifted by the Hall Family Foundation’s Modern Sculpture Initiative. Inside the Bloch Building, the architect was Steven Holl and houses the third largest collection of Isamu Noguchi, largest outside of New York and Japan.

Architecture, Design & Decorative Arts

Ranging from medieval stained glass to 21st-century furniture, the museum houses pieces of architecture and decorative arts. Some significant pieces are an armour set for both a knight and his horse from Italy 16th century and more than 1,300 examples of English pottery.

Donald J. Hall Sculpture Park

Outside on the museum's immense lawn, the Donald J. Hall Sculpture Park, designed by Dan Kiley, contains the largest collection of monumental bronzes by Henry Moore in the United States. The park also includes works by Alexander Calder, Auguste Rodin, George Segal and Mark di Suvero, among others. Beyond these, the park (and the museum itself) is well known for Shuttlecocks, a four-part outdoor sculpture of oversized badminton shuttlecocks by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen.