James Brinsfield

January 4, 2018

A Fresh Look at Picasso and the Art That Inspired Him

It’s finally happened — a blockbuster Picasso show at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. Organized by the Musée du Quai Branly in Paris, “The Eyes of Picasso” is a rare treat, pairing 60 works by Picasso with sublime examples of the African art that inspired him. Viewed with fresh eyes, that relationship is the show’s driving theme. “If you think you know Picasso there are going to be new discoveries,” said Nelson-Atkins CEO and director Julián Zugazagoitia.

September 8, 2017

A Pollock Masterwork Stops at the Nelson

Want to see the largest painting Jackson Pollock ever made? Now’s your chance. Through Oct. 29, Pollock’s “Mural,” measuring 8 by 20 feet, is on view in the Bloch Building Project Space. The showing in Kansas City is part of a global victory lap for the painting — now back in U.S. from a tour of Europe — following two years of restoration work. Made in 1943, “Mural” is the ultimate transitional work in Pollock’s oeuvre.

July 7, 2017

“Bleu” is a Promising Debut

Trumpeter Hermon Mehari is a well-known figure in the world of Kansas City jazz — and beyond. Since receiving his music degree from UMKC in..

September 2, 2016

Nelson-Atkins Lands a German Neo-Expressionist Masterwork

The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art has turned William Shakespeare’s phrase, “much ado about nothing,” completely around. With little fanfare it has acquired and recently put..

January 6, 2016

How Jazz and the People Who Played it Put KC on the National Map

It’s September, 1936. Picture two cars leaving New York City bound for Kansas City. One takes the northerly route, cutting through Chicago and across Iowa..

July 10, 2015

Turning Point

1945: It was the end, and it was the beginning. And it’s the focus of “Till We Meet Again”, an exhibit at the Harry S. Truman Library and Museum. Artifacts, newsreels, maps and patriotic posters bring us face to face with the most eventful year of the twentieth century. Franklin Roosevelt died on April 12, 1945 a year after winning his fourth election as president.

April 30, 2015

The Rhythm Starts Here: Modernity’s KC Roots

From the mid-1930s through the mid-1940s, the roots of American modernity in popular music and painting were set in the hot-house urban culture of Kansas City.