Review

A review of Magnificent Gifts for the 75th

Philomene Bennett, "The Walk to Chimayo," oil on canvas, 44" x 52", 1992. Gift of Drs. Antonio S. and Luz S. Racela and Family in honor of the 75th anniversary of The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2009.52. Image: courtesy of the artist

The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
Kansas City, Missouri
February 13 — April 4, 2010

“An encyclopedic exhibit in an encyclopedic museum.”

That is how Marc Wilson, recently retired director of The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, described the museum’s  Magnificent Gifts for the 75th exhibition, which displayed 130 of the 400 works of art donated by 75 patrons in honor of the museum's 75th anniversary.

That encyclopedia was opened significantly wider with the inclusion of works by five contemporary Kansas City artists — what I believe was the most living local artists ever shown together from the Nelson’s own collection until Thinking Photography: Five Decades at the Kansas City Art Institute and in the former exhibition, these Kansas City artists rubbed shoulders with the likes of Claude Monet and Vincent van Gogh. This ground-breaking inclusion caused no marble floors to rumble, no hallowed walls to crumble. No, it was a welcome antidote to the fact that, all too often, one could find nothing by a living Kansas City artist when visiting the Nelson — an institution which the local art community has supported for 75 years.

Jim Leedy, Charger," stoneware with glaze and iron, 5 1/2" x 28 1/2", ca. 2000. Gift of Harrison Jedel in honor of the 75th anniversary of The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2008.76.2. Image: courtesy of the artist

Each of the five artists is remarkable for having achieved — in these days of trendy, lame sameness — a mature and recognizable style. Their works hold up, as was explained with insight in the museum’s wall labels.

Jim Leedy was represented by two ceramic works. The circa-2000 charger, hung on the wall, combines seemingly raw clay and iron, as if jutting from the earth. An earlier piece dating from Leedy’s time with Jackson Pollock and Willem deKooning brought their Abstract Expressionism into his clay. Philomene Bennett’s The Walk to Chimayo from 1992 has masterly color and surface, which are secondary to her characteristically spiritual expressions. Hugh Merrill’s 1979 etching, Seminary Forest, although containing hints of architecture and nature, is, more importantly, otherworldly. Linda Lighton’s ceramic sculpture from 2007, Sea Sponge (one of her three in the exhibition) carries on from feminist artists a generation earlier, proving that art can be both feminine and strong. And, David Ford’s 2007 acrylic-on-paper, Mecca, with its emerging rainbow, suggests universal, transformative experiences.

Linda Lighton, "Sea Sponge," clay with glaze and luster, 9" x 13 5/8" x 6", 2007. Purchase: acquired through the generosity of Kathleen A. Aylward, J. Scott Francis, Margaret H. Silva, Drs. Charles and Susan Porter, and Carol and Dennis Hudson in honor of the 75th anniversary of The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2008.44. Image: courtesy of the artist

What was not on the museum’s labels were the contributions each artist has made and is still making to Kansas City’s art scene. Leedy was a key initiator 30 years ago of what became the Crossroads Arts District. It currently has about 50 galleries and at least two dozen other businesses which show art. The Leedy-Voulkos Art Center on Baltimore Avenue is a Crossroads mainstay and Leedy himself a mentor to generations of artists. Bennett was a co-founder in 1975 of the Kansas City Artists Coalition, which now has more than 600 members. She continues to be a vibrant spokesperson for art in Kansas City. Merrill, who had a solo exhibition at The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in 1986 and a retrospective at the Leedy-Voulkos Art Center last fall,  has demonstrated his consuming interest in print-making by donating hundreds of contemporary prints to the institution over the last three decades. Lighton was instrumental in passage of the city’s One Percent for Art program, whereby more than 30 public art works are now integral to Kansas City’s environment. Her foundation supports local art projects and a visiting artists’ series which so far has allowed 84 artists to live and work in 57 countries. Ford, a high school drop-out, (and Charlotte Street Foundation visual art award winner, as is Leedy) has forged ahead by giving himself an art education, demonstrating over the last 25 years what can be done with vision and guts. Role models they all are, both on and off the museum wall, for a new generation of aspiring artists.

At the same time, anyone who observes art in our city could easily point out at least two dozen additional Kansas City artists who could have been included, artists who have been showing locally, nationally and internationally for years.

Magnificant Gifts for the 75th did feature works by other artists with Kansas City metro-area ties: Roger Shimomura (with a painting from his important series based on his grandmother’s diaries written while the Japanese-American family was held on the West Coast during World War II), Wendell Castle, Robyn Nichols, Sheldon Carey, Akio Takamori, and Robert and Shana ParkeHarrison. Also represented were the late John Douglas Patrick, Albert Bloch, Ross Eugene Braught, Elizabeth Layton, and Ken Ferguson. Worthy of mention here is a pair of portraits by Missourian George Caleb Bingham.

Hugh Jordan Merrill, "Seminary Forest," etching on paper, edition 5/20, 17 3/4" x 23", 1979. Gift of Maria Racela-Smith and Jeremy Smith in honor of the 75th anniversary of The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2009.74.1. Image: courtesy of the artist

The 130 works in the exhibition were culled from among 400 actual or promised gifts of African, American Indian, Asian, Impressionist, American, Modern, and contemporary art (including photography). Yes, the best known titles were gifts from Kansas City’s best-known philanthropic families: Bloch, Kemper, Hall, and Nichols, for example. But the gifts of Kansas City artists' work were mostly from lesser-known people whose passion for collecting or for a particular artist are no less heart-felt.

The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art is, and has been for 75 years, a “magnificant gift” to Kansas City and to the country. The museum continues to delight and educate us. Its long-standing exclusion of Kansas City artists was, perhaps, its Achilles’ heel, but fortunately, this is changing.

Was it simply a space problem? For sure, the 2007 Bloch addition makes it more possible to host or organize special exhibitions like Magnificent Gifts for the 75th. However, major museums like those in St. Louis and Indianapolis, without becoming one bit myopic, had implemented on-going, smaller, locally focused exhibitions years ago, letting the public know on a regular basis what is sprouting in its back yard. We hope that our museum’s collecting of local art will lead to more wall labels saying “born in Kansas City” or “is living in Overland Park."

David Ford, "Mecca," acrylic paint on paper, 32 3/4" x 44", 2007. Gift of John O’Brien in honor of the 75th anniversary of The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2009.78. Image: courtesy of the artist

Note what is happening on the culinary scene. Twenty years ago, restaurants proudly served whatever was exotic and foreign — ostrich and osso buco. Today, it is whatever is grown locally that is desired, the fresher the better. Here is the key. Nothing these days is all one way or the other. The limits of the past do not dictate today. In the arts, as in life, we embrace pluralism, diversity, and inclusion. Tastes, economics, and expectations change: change is the norm.

Expressed or not, admitted or not, with its Magnificent Gifts for the 75th and other efforts such as  participation in the 125th anniversary of the Kansas City Art Institute, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art has extended its reach and widened its grasp. In doing so, our museum has more fully opened its encyclopedic collection, its exhibition space, and its mindset to better serve its hometown and beyond.

-re-

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