I read Sunday paper which is great - Kansas City Star while Jack worked on one of his cases. Then we drove to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. Jack found a shady place to park and continued working while I did the museum. They say it is an encyclopedia of art and they are right. Just everything -European, American, ancient Greece and Rome, African and a whole new building devoted to modern art. Lots of artists I didn't know, but many that I did.
I asked the guard who said Nelson was a wealthy newspaper man and his wife used her entire fortune to build the building after he died to put his collections in. Atkins was a very wealthy woman who just decided that KC needed more culture. She just went to Europe and bought up everything she could. All of that was added to the museum. Did I mention it's free and so is the audio tour that I could not finish from 12:30 to 5 so didn't do it.
The special exhibits were George Segal sculptures with a focus on his man on the street. He's the artist who made real life sculptures of ordinary people and then put them in every day settings. I know you have seen it. Really great. It was also the 15th anniversary of the shuttlecock art. It has become a symbol of the museum and of Kansas City. The artists flew over and saw the museum as the badminton net and put the six 18 ft shuttlecocks on either side of the net with one caught in the net that is on the steps of the entrance.
The other exhibit was of the Mughal albums. They were the ruling dynasty in India from 1500s to 1800s. The guy who built the Taj Mahal was one of the family. Anyway, they were big patrons of the arts and brought in artists from all over to paint albums for them. The exhibit was pages from the albums. Needed to use magnifying glass to see them. Absolutely stunning with calligraphy and borders that were as spectacular as the pictures themselves. No pictures allowed in the special exhibits. They also have rotating exhibit of photography of the 7500 items they have including the Hallmark collection but I don't know what that is.
Had to take a break in their restaurant to recover a little. Only so so cafeteria style with limited choices. Good ideas that don't quite work. We have had much better museum meals but great setting. Lots of Henry Moore sculpture in the gardens surrounding the museum and in the balcony around the restaurant. I spent a lot of time in the Asian section. Beautiful furniture, pottery, screens. Inspired me to keep up with sumi-e.
Rejoined Jack who got a lot done. Need to make plans for the next step of the trip tonight. Traffic even on Sunday was heavy and driving around is very complex so haven't really been to the downtown. The part of the town where museum is reminds me a lot of Bethesda MD. Posh and new section with upscale shopping, street cafes, etc. they call the plaza. Saw a couple of beautiful fountains in little parks as we drove along. Another thing KC is known for as I understand.
Pictures are of some the things I liked in the museum. I would definitely go back the museum if I was near here again. The African seated figure is all beads. Do you believe it? I thought the painting of the sheet was wonderful. Apparently at the time, people were covering up nudes so he wanted to make a statement. But it really looked like cloth. Look for the woman behind the sheet. I wish I understood how people do that. They also had a Rathko painting. We saw an exhibit when we were in Las Vegas. Those are the paintings that look like nothing but color or wide stripes of color but if you stand in front of them just right, you feel like you are in the painting. They are all about emotion. I just love them. Again, how did he come up with that??
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