Ted Coe (photo courtesy of The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art)
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art recently announced a gift of 181 remarkable works from the Ralph T. Coe Center for the Arts in Santa Fe, founded in 1994 to preserve and celebrate Native American art. The gift marks a homecoming for the legacy of former Nelson-Atkins Museum director Ralph Tracy “Ted” Coe.
Coe was far more than a museum director. He was a storyteller of form and culture, a polymath whose curiosity spanned continents and traditions. Before becoming Nelson-Atkins director in 1977, he served as curator of painting and sculpture, bringing a global lens that helped shape the institution for decades.
Born in Cleveland in the late 1920s, Coe grew up immersed in art and philanthropy. His father, Ralph Coe Sr., was a voracious collector of Impressionist paintings and a longtime trustee of the Cleveland Museum of Art. After studies at Oberlin and Yale, Coe honed his scholarship at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. In 1959, he joined the Nelson Gallery of Art, beginning a career that bridged cultures, objects and ideas in transformative ways.
While his early focus was European and American painting, Coe found his calling in the scholarship of Native American and global art. The objects he acquired became a means of building relationships and educating. Traveling extensively across North America and beyond, Coe often lived among Native communities, learning directly from their artists, artisans and elders. His collection grew into an extraordinary assemblage of textiles, carvings, jewelry, pottery and ceremonial objects — each a testament to creative brilliance and cultural endurance.
Tahnee Ahtone, curator of Native American Art at the Nelson-Atkins, emphasizes the personal and cultural importance of Coe’s collecting and pointed to a particular artifact: The Kiowa moccasins, she stated, “are the most notable for me. Not only do they originate from my tribal community, but the pair are of wonderful craftsmanship. All the works in the Coe collection hold a special meaning to me, not only as a curator of Native American art, but also as someone who understands the unique relationships Ted fostered with tribal communities and artists.”
The 181 works now entering the Nelson-Atkins reflect that vision: 72 Native American objects, 54 South and Southeast Asian, 28 African, 14 Oceanic, and 13 East Asian works. Together, they emphasize Coe’s belief that art — whether carved, cast, painted or woven — is not a relic of the past but a living, evolving document of human experience.
Curators and scholars alike highlight Coe’s pioneering approach: He saw Native and global art not as mere artifacts, but as living documents. His intellect, humanity and belief in art as dialogue reshaped how the Nelson — and the wider art world — engages with these rich traditions. Beyond his scholarship, Coe’s mentorship and enthusiasm inspired generations, helping shape the vision of major collectors such as Marion and Henry Bloch and Eugene V. Thaw and reinforcing the museum’s position as a national cultural powerhouse.
Anticipation is building for an upcoming exhibition of this extraordinary collection. For Kansas City, this is more than an acquired gift — it is a story of return and recognition, a celebration of art as a cross-cultural bridge for generations, and a fitting tribute to Coe’s enduring name.
