Nan Chisholm

October 9, 2017

Arts News – Art of War: Gifts of Peace

The story almost sounds like a tale from the “Antiques Roadshow”: a large closet full of art objects stored in a disorganized fashion. Mysterious works acquired over many decades from all around the world, of different ages, media and stylistic approaches. Many lack documentation; most need further research. But the biggest surprise here is that the location of this treasure trove was the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College in Leavenworth, Kansas.

June 5, 2017

Couple Shares Love of Regionalism in Exhibit of Feisty Depression-Era Talent Joe Jones

When Jim and Virginia Moffett began buying pictures around 1990, they were advised by Henry Adams, then curator of American art at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, to “stay within your region.” Adams believed that focusing on artists with local connections would enable the Moffetts to have a superior and more organized collection. Now, a quarter-century after they began collecting, the Moffetts are concentrating on organizing various museum exhibitions [...]

May 1, 2017

“Wilbur Niewald: Works from the ‘50s & ‘60s and Recent Paintings,” Haw Contemporary

A few years ago, while walking in Loose Park, I happened upon an artist painting the trees in front of him. Wearing a brimmed hat,..

January 11, 2017

Connecting the Community Through Paint

When Cheptoo Kositany-Buckner, executive director of the American Jazz Museum, wanted to develop a community project that would provide a contrast to the racial tensions..

November 14, 2016

Exhibit of 1930s Woodcuts Illumines Depression-Era Collecting in KC

“Originality, Simplicity, Freedom of Expression, and above all Sincerity, with a clean cut block, are characteristics of a good wood block print.” These are the..

October 5, 2016

Crystal Bridges Exhibit Captures Power of Dance

John Singer Sargent’s Capri Girl on a Rooftop dancing to a tambourine. William H. Johnson’s modernist depiction of an African American couple jitterbugging. The iconic..

July 6, 2016

Collector’s Corner: Roland Sabates

Roland Sabates is an ophthalmologist and passionate collector of American, African and Latin American art.

December 15, 2015

“Venus Rising” Contains More Than a Female Body

One of the gems of the Nelson-Atkins’ American painting collection is Raphaelle Peale’s Venus Rising from the Sea—A Deception. Often acknowledged as the artist’s most important work, it was a natural choice for inclusion in the exhibit, “Audubon to Warhol: The Art of American Still Life,” now at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

September 18, 2015

Eastward Ho for “Missouri’s Artist”

Next to Thomas Hart Benton, George Caleb Bingham is probably the best-known artist of Missouri and the first major American painter to be based west of the Mississippi. He was born in 1811 in Virginia and moved to Boon’s Lick, Mo., as a young boy. Even as a child, Bingham was fascinated by rivers and all the activity on them.

Author: Nan Chisholm