The Sarah and Landon Rowland American Art Galleries, an expansion and major reinstallation of the American art collection at The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, since open April 22, providing a fresh view of the range of artistic expression that shaped American culture from the Colonial era to World War II.
The expanded suite of galleries, which increases space for the American collection by nearly 20 percent, is anchored by a stately new Grand Hall on the west end and the Kemper Rotunda on the east. As part of the $7 million project, previous space was stripped to its core, allowing for new walls and wall colors, lighting, ceilings and flooring. The project includes the conservation of more than 20 paintings, reframing of more than 20 works, and conservation of several pieces of furniture and a period room.
The American collection at the Nelson-Atkins is among the strongest in the United States. Paintings, sculpture, decorative arts and works on paper tell the story of a young nation created out of a quest for liberty and shaped by westward expansion, the struggles of slavery, and industrialization.
The collection includes such well-known artists as Winslow Homer, Edward Hopper and Georgia O’Keeffe, as well as iconic works by Gilbert Stuart, Thomas Cole, John Singer Sargent, Frederic Edwin Church, Raphaelle Peale and Marsden Hartley. Well-known decorative arts designers and manufacturers include Thomas Dennis, John Townsend, the Gorham Manufacturing Company, John La Farge, Greene and Greene, and Frank Lloyd Wright. The Museum holds the largest public collection of works by Missouri’s native sons George Caleb Bingham and Thomas Hart Benton.
Many works in the new American galleries have not been on view to the public for a decade or more. For the first time a gallery is dedicated to rotations of American works on paper, each focused on a different theme including Hispanic America, Souvenirs and Worship. American decorative arts, painting and sculpture are fully integrated in the galleries, presenting a more complete picture of American visual culture and craftsmanship.
The reinstallation of the galleries represents one of the final stages of the overall transformation of the Museum that included the June 2007 opening of the Bloch Building, the highly acclaimed expansion designed by Steven Holl Architects. The transformation will continue with reinstallation of American Indian galleries, opening in November 2009.
The new galleries are named for Sarah and Landon Rowland, who have generously supported the American department, as well as the entire institution, for many years. Sarah Rowland is a member of the Museum’s Board of Trustees and Executive Committee and chairs the Exhibitions Committee. Landon Rowland is Director and Chairman Emeritus of Janus Capital Group, Inc., and Chairman of the Garden City bank in Garden City, MO, and Everglades Financial in Kansas City. In 2002, the Rowlands established The Ever Glades Fund, an endowment fund for the acquisition of American art, one of the largest single contributions to the Museum for acquisitions.
“The new galleries are compelling visually and artistically,” said Marc F. Wilson, the Menefee D. and Mary Louise Blackwell Director/CEO of the Museum. “The curators were challenged to draw upon the strengths of the collection to tell important stories about key moments in America’s many-layered history. They have succeeded in a marvelous and engaging fashion.” Margaret C. Conrads, the Samuel Sosland Senior Curator of American Art, and Catherine L. Futter, the Helen Jane and R. Hugh “Pat” Uhlmann Curator of Decorative Arts, approached the challenge by reviewing more than 1,000 works of art in the American collection. The Museum’s strengths include early portraiture, 18th-century furniture, mid-19th-century landscape painting, late 19th-century figure painting and silver, still life painting and a great diversity of early 20th-century art. The aim of the American galleries reinstallation is to highlight the artistic achievement of each object and to locate that achievement within the context of the cultural, social and economic milieu in which it was created.
“Looking at the entire collection, the arrangement for the expanded galleries became clear,” Conrads said. “Objects from similar eras and art centers naturally gravitated toward each other, giving us the backbone of the installation.
” The galleries will focus on six key dates in American history, as well as key geographic regions that were pivotal to artistic production during those time periods. Five primary locations are fairly constant across the collection – New England, the Middle Atlantic states, New York, the West and Europe .
The expanded suite of galleries, which increases space for the American collection by nearly 20 percent, is anchored by a stately new Grand Hall on the west end and the Kemper Rotunda on the east. As part of the $7 million project, previous space was stripped to its core, allowing for new walls and wall colors, lighting, ceilings and flooring. The project includes the conservation of more than 20 paintings, reframing of more than 20 works, and conservation of several pieces of furniture and a period room.
The American collection at the Nelson-Atkins is among the strongest in the United States. Paintings, sculpture, decorative arts and works on paper tell the story of a young nation created out of a quest for liberty and shaped by westward expansion, the struggles of slavery, and industrialization.
The collection includes such well-known artists as Winslow Homer, Edward Hopper and Georgia O’Keeffe, as well as iconic works by Gilbert Stuart, Thomas Cole, John Singer Sargent, Frederic Edwin Church, Raphaelle Peale and Marsden Hartley. Well-known decorative arts designers and manufacturers include Thomas Dennis, John Townsend, the Gorham Manufacturing Company, John La Farge, Greene and Greene, and Frank Lloyd Wright. The Museum holds the largest public collection of works by Missouri’s native sons George Caleb Bingham and Thomas Hart Benton.
Many works in the new American galleries have not been on view to the public for a decade or more. For the first time a gallery is dedicated to rotations of American works on paper, each focused on a different theme including Hispanic America, Souvenirs and Worship. American decorative arts, painting and sculpture are fully integrated in the galleries, presenting a more complete picture of American visual culture and craftsmanship.
The reinstallation of the galleries represents one of the final stages of the overall transformation of the Museum that included the June 2007 opening of the Bloch Building, the highly acclaimed expansion designed by Steven Holl Architects. The transformation will continue with reinstallation of American Indian galleries, opening in November 2009.
The new galleries are named for Sarah and Landon Rowland, who have generously supported the American department, as well as the entire institution, for many years. Sarah Rowland is a member of the Museum’s Board of Trustees and Executive Committee and chairs the Exhibitions Committee. Landon Rowland is Director and Chairman Emeritus of Janus Capital Group, Inc., and Chairman of the Garden City bank in Garden City, MO, and Everglades Financial in Kansas City. In 2002, the Rowlands established The Ever Glades Fund, an endowment fund for the acquisition of American art, one of the largest single contributions to the Museum for acquisitions.
“The new galleries are compelling visually and artistically,” said Marc F. Wilson, the Menefee D. and Mary Louise Blackwell Director/CEO of the Museum. “The curators were challenged to draw upon the strengths of the collection to tell important stories about key moments in America’s many-layered history. They have succeeded in a marvelous and engaging fashion.” Margaret C. Conrads, the Samuel Sosland Senior Curator of American Art, and Catherine L. Futter, the Helen Jane and R. Hugh “Pat” Uhlmann Curator of Decorative Arts, approached the challenge by reviewing more than 1,000 works of art in the American collection. The Museum’s strengths include early portraiture, 18th-century furniture, mid-19th-century landscape painting, late 19th-century figure painting and silver, still life painting and a great diversity of early 20th-century art. The aim of the American galleries reinstallation is to highlight the artistic achievement of each object and to locate that achievement within the context of the cultural, social and economic milieu in which it was created.
“Looking at the entire collection, the arrangement for the expanded galleries became clear,” Conrads said. “Objects from similar eras and art centers naturally gravitated toward each other, giving us the backbone of the installation.
” The galleries will focus on six key dates in American history, as well as key geographic regions that were pivotal to artistic production during those time periods. Five primary locations are fairly constant across the collection – New England, the Middle Atlantic states, New York, the West and Europe .
