The Leopold Gallery is celebrating its 25th anniversary.
That’s a major milestone for a Kansas City gallery, considering that many only survive for a few years. The secret to Leopold’s success? Diversification. Owner and founder Paul Dorrell has created a total operation, running a retail shop, representing artists, connecting with collectors, consulting for corporate collections and investing in local schools. Building connections from the top of the KC economic ladder to the bottom, Dorrell has created a business model that few galleries have managed to replicate.
Dorrell is middle aged but hip. He’s got a pierced ear, he rides a Harley to work, he loves traveling and surfing and he just got back from Burning Man. He’s talkative and has no shortage of opinions. He’s the quintessential entrepreneur, a self-starter with a lot of ambition and energy. His how-to book, Living the Artist’s Life, first published in 2004, was just updated and republished in a second edition.
When he opened Leopold Gallery back in 1991, Dorrell took a risk. “When I founded Leopold, it was financial suicide to start a gallery that only represented Kansas City artists,” he says. “Honestly, there weren’t many artists, the art wasn’t very good, and there was no art commerce to speak of. But I could tell a renaissance was coming. Things were just starting to change.”
And things have changed. As the KC art scene has grown so has the Leopold venture, dividing into three distinct entities: Leopold Gallery, which represents artists and sells their work; Leopold Consulting, which helps corporations and institutions build collections; and the Leopold Foundation, a non-profit which funds art programs at two Kansas City schools.
Leopold Gallery is probably the best known side of the business. Located in Brookside and surrounded by other local businesses and a weekly farmers market, the gallery embraces this locally-owned, locally-produced ethos. Over the years, Leopold has represented mostly local and regional artists, including Adolfo Martinez, NedRa Bonds and Jose Faus. But Dorrell admits that he sells a wide variety of art. “If I only sold contemporary painting, I’d be doing less business. You have to sell some conservative stuff now and then. I’m putting kids through college here!”
Today, Dorrell leaves most of the gallery operation to his employees and focuses on his other two projects. Leopold Consulting works with roughly 100 private collectors in KC and also advises major local institutions like H&R Block, the Chiefs, the Royals, the Kansas City Zoo, the Sprint Center, the Kauffman Foundation, pretty much every hospital in town and a few other big deal places outside of KC like the Veterans of Foreign Wars Museum in Washington, D.C. and the Mayo Clinic. Leopold Consulting has sold a lot of art — roughly 19 million dollars’ worth, he says.
To Dorrell, corporate collecting is mandatory. “You aren’t hip if your office doesn’t have art,” he said. Quickly dropping into casual business talk he added, “I just got off the phone with a company that wants to just try out some art, see if they like it. You know what I told them? Get serious. Buy some art.”
The Leopold Foundation is an entirely different animal. Using his connections with big business and the wealthy elite, Dorrell has raised more than $80,000 for Sumner Academy and Paseo Academy, both inner city art magnet schools. The foundation has worked with over a thousand kids since it began.
Dorrell regularly sponsors field trips for both schools, taking kids out to see artists’ studios, local galleries, museums and regional colleges, often using money out of his own pocket.
In the end, it’s Dorrell’s ability to join together philanthropy and art collecting that makes his gallery so unique. Getting his wealthy clients involved in the foundation is very important to him. “So many people get obsessed with wealth and prestige,” he said. “They’ve forgotten about those who need help. I’ve got no patience for that.”
Above: Leopold Gallery owner Paul Dorrell, with his dog Bebe at his feet, stands before works by Kansas City Art Institute alum William Lobdell. Photo by Nathan Lang.
