Search results for ""Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art""

A glimpse into the development of the American West through startling photographs of the frontier landscape and the rich culture of American Indian tribes Best known for his Civil War photographs, Alexander Gardner (1821–1882) also created two extraordinary bodies of work depicting the transformation of the American West: Across the Continent on the Kansas Pacific Railway and Scenes in the Indian County. In 1867, after joining the survey team for what became the Kansas Pacific Railroad, Gardner photographed the path of the proposed extension, emphasizing the ease of future railroad construction and economic development, while including studies of American Indians and settlements along the way. The following year, Gardner recorded peace talks with Indian tribes at Fort Laramie, Wyoming. Distinctly sympathetic to the plight of the American Indian, Gardner made candid documentation of individual chiefs, their encampments and daily life, burial trees, and the peace proceedings themselves. With a full catalogue raisonné of these two rare series, Alexander Gardner offers a complete visual index of these remarkable photographs, made at a critical moment in the history of the American West. Distributed for the Hall Family Foundation and the Nelson-Atkins Museum of ArtExhibition Schedule:The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (07/25/14–01/11/15)

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Best known for his modernist paintings and prints, the multitalented artist Ralston Crawford (1906–1978) maintained a deep and intensive interest in photography throughout his career, using the camera as a tool of both documentary and artistic expression. This exquisitely produced publication provides a fresh, comprehensive look at Crawford’s photographs from 1938 through the mid-1970s, including both well-known works and previously unpublished images. Some of his photographic images served as the basis for paintings and prints, but many more were made for their own sake as photographs, capturing a wide variety of subjects, from pristine industrial forms to the vibrant street life and musical culture of New Orleans. This volume locates Crawford’s photographic production in the context of his overall artistic career and within the creative currents of his time, enhancing our understanding of Crawford as an artist and serving as the best and most up-to-date study of his photographs. Distributed for The Hall Family Foundation in association with The Nelson-Atkins Museum of ArtExhibition Schedule:The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City (10/26/18–04/07/19)

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Vivid, clear-sighted images of American vernacular signage and architecture encountered along old US highways showcase the early black-and-white work of the acclaimed photographer Jim Dow The American photographer Jim Dow (b. 1942) is renowned for photographs that depict the built environment—he first gained attention for his panoramic triptychs of baseball stadiums—and for his skill at conveying the “human ingenuity and spirit” that suffuse the spaces. This book is the first to focus on Dow’s early black-and-white pictures, featuring more than 60 photographs made between 1967 and 1977, a majority of which have never before been published. Indebted to the work of Walker Evans, a key mentor of Dow’s, these photographs depict time-worn signage taken from billboards, diners, gas stations, drive-ins, and other small businesses. While still recognizable as icons of commercial Americana, without their context Dow’s signs impart ambiguous messages, often situated between documentation and abstraction. Including a new essay by Dow that reveals his own perspective on the development of the work, Signs suggests how these formative years honed the artist’s sensibility and conceptual approach.Distributed for The Nelson-Atkins Museum of ArtExhibition Schedule:The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO (May 7–October 9, 2022)

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A fascinating account of how the railway influenced more than a century of art in Europe and America Steam locomotives gripped the imagination when they first appeared in 19th-century Europe and America. Aboard these great machines, passengers traveled at faster speeds than ever before while watching the scenery transform itself and take on new forms. Common notions of time and space were forever changed.Through vivid illustrations and engaging texts, The Railway: Art in the Age of Steam captures both the fear and excitement of early train travel as it probes the artistic response to steam locomotion within its social setting. Featuring paintings, photography, prints, and posters, the book includes numerous masterpieces by 19th- and 20th-century artists, including J. M. W. Turner, Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, Charles Sheeler, and Edward Hopper.With its wide variety of themes—landscape painting, the conquest of the West, Impressionism, issues of social class, Modernism, the aesthetics of the machine, and environmental concerns—this work promises an exhilarating journey for both train and art enthusiasts and for anyone interested in one of the industrial age’s defining achievements.Published in association with The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, and Walker Art Gallery, National Museums LiverpoolExhibition Schedule:Walker Art Gallery, National Museums Liverpool (April 18 – August 10, 2008)The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City (September 13, 2008 – January 18, 2009)

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A novel look at the relationship between Impressionist painting and photography and the forging of a national identity in France between 1850 and 1880 Between 1850 and 1880, Impressionist landscape painting and early forms of photography flourished within the arts in France. In the context of massive social and political change that also marked this era, painters and photographers composed competing visions of France as modern and industrialized or as rural and anti-modern. Impressionist France explores the resonances between landscape art and national identity as reflected in the paintings and photographs made during this period, examining and illustrating in particular the works of key artists such as Édouard Baldus, Gustave Le Gray, the Bisson Frères, Édouard Manet, Jean-François Millet, Claude Monet, Charles Nègre, and Camille Pissarro. This ambitious premise focuses on the whole of France, exploring the relationship between landscape art and the notion of French nationhood across the country’s varied and spectacular landscapes in seven geographical sections and four scholarly essays, which provide new information regarding the production and impact of French Impressionism.Distributed for the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art and the Saint Louis Museum of ArtExhibition Schedule:Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art(10/19/13-02/09/14)Saint Louis Art Museum(03/16/14–07/06/14)

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This stunning volume represents a major photo-historical discovery: it is the first book on Homer Page (1918–1985), a brilliant but overlooked photographer active in the late 1940s and 50s. It focuses on his previously unpublished photographs of New York taken while a Guggenheim Fellow from 1949 to 1950. First recognized by Ansel Adams in 1944, California-born Page exhibited in a major show of young artists at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, in 1946. Four years later, he was invited to participate in MoMA’s seminal photography symposium, alongside 10 other prominent photographers, including Walker Evans, Irving Penn, and Aaron Siskind. In photographs that echo those of Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange, and Robert Frank, Page uniquely synthesized documentary and artistic concerns. His work as a Guggenheim Fellow––which depicts pedestrians in motion, friends and family members conversing, commuters, children playing, political rallies and protests, and isolated figures resting and watching––offers a fascinating look at New York during the late 1940s and represents the culmination of Page’s most important work. The Photographs of Homer Page features a plate section of these compelling and often poignant images together with texts by the artist, a bibliography, and an essay by noted scholar Keith F. Davis examining Page’s life and career––including his connections with Lange, Nancy and Beaumont Newhall, and Edouard Steichen. Distributed for The Nelson-Atkins Museum of ArtExhibition Schedule:The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (February 14–June 7, 2009)

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A fresh, comprehensive, and critical look at the California gold rush through the lens of the daguerreotype camera The California gold rush was the first major event in American history to be documented in depth by photography. This fascinating volume offers a fresh, comprehensive, and critical look at the people, places, and culture of that historical episode as seen through daguerreotypes and ambrotypes of the era. After gold was discovered at Sutter’s Mill in 1848, thousands made the journey to California, including daguerreotypists who established studios in cities and towns and ventured into the gold fields in specially outfitted photographic wagons. Their images, including portraits, views of cities and gold towns, and miners at work in the field, provide an extraordinary glimpse into the evolution of mining culture and technology, the variety of nationalities and races involved in the mining industry, and the growth of cities such as San Francisco and Sacramento. Including numerous images published here for the first time, this book provides an extraordinary glimpse into the transformation of the American West.Distributed for The Hall Family Foundation in association with The Nelson-Atkins Museum of ArtExhibition Schedule:The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City (September 6, 2019–January 26, 2020)Peabody Essex Museum, Salem (April 4, 2020–July 12, 2020)Yale University Art Gallery (August 28–November 29, 2020)

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An in-depth and current investigation of how the spiritual is manifestly present in contemporary art The spiritual is everywhere evident in contemporary art, and this publication fulfills a long-awaited need. Encountering the Spiritual in Contemporary Art addresses the subject in depth for the first time in over three decades. It significantly broadens the scope of previous studies to include new media and non-Western and Indigenous art (in addition to that of the West), presents art from diverse cultures with equal status, promotes cultural specificity, and moves beyond notions of “center and periphery,” celebrating the plurality and global nature of contemporary art today. Major essays based on cultural affinities are interspersed with brief thematic essays to provide diverse perspectives and expand the knowledge of academic and general audiences.Encountering the Spiritual provides an alternative to the main currents of presentation and interpretation prevalent in contemporary art, appealing to believers, agnostics, and inveterate skeptics alike. This essential publication demonstrates that the need to address the fundamental questions of life are both innate and ongoing.Distributed for the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art

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Spanning two millennia and the breadth of southern Asia, the thirty-seven masterworks presented here introduce the reader to the great artistic achievements of India and Southeast Asia. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art is world-renowned for its Asian collections, and this beautifully illustrated volume demonstrates why. In this catalogue readers will explore idealized sculptures created in stone and bronze, examples of richly carved wood architecture, vibrant paintings, and luxurious textiles and furniture as diverse in style as the cultures they represent. The works fall into two general categories: art for religious use, associated with Buddhism, Hinduism, and Jainism; and courtly and decorative arts, associated with the Mughal and Rajput courts and the eclectic tastes of the Colonial Era. Each work is accompanied by a detailed essay exploring its cultural and aesthetic significance. The introduction examines the history of the collection and provides a general framework for appreciating and interpreting South and Southeast Asian Art. This elegant and informative book will be enjoyed by scholars and art lovers alike.

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A photographic fever dream of America’s Midwest, from the author of Homegrown and Domestic Vacations For her third monograph, Midwest Materials, Julie Blackmon has created a new body of work that sparkles with the wit, dark humor and irony for which the photographer has gained such renown. Finding insight and inspiration in the seeming monotony of her “generic American hometown” of Springfield, Missouri, Blackmon constructs a captivating, fictitious world that is both playful and menacing. “I think of myself as a visual artist working in the medium of photography,” Blackmon notes, “and my assignment is to chart the fever dreams of American life.” Midwest Materials follows Domestic Vacations (Radius Books, 2008) and Homegrown (Radius Books, 2014). Julie Blackmon (born 1966) pursued studies in art education and photography at Missouri State University. Her photographs are included in the permanent collections of the Cleveland Museum of Art; George Eastman House, Rochester, NY; Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art and Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Toledo Museum of Art; Portland Art Museum; Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago; and numerous others. She is represented by Robert Mann Gallery, Haw Contemporary and Fahey Klein, among others. Blackmon lives and works in Springfield, Missouri.

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Over thousands of years, the art of Chinese painting has evolved, while also staying loyal to its traditional roots. Despite various schools of thought, styles and techniques, three primary categories have emerged across the discipline: landscape, figure and bird-and-flower. Using fine ink and water brush strokes on paper or silk, Chinese artists have developed a unique style—one that's famous throughout the world.This book highlights 50 Chinese paintings, pulled from museum collections in China and around the world, including: British Museum, London Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas Osaka City Museum of Art, Osaka Palace Museum, Beijing Palace Museum, Taipei Shanghai Museum, Shanghai The paintings shown are representative of the categories, historical periods and styles of this artistic tradition.Detailed professional interpretations and notes allow readers to learn more about the pieces themselves, the artists and the context in which they were created. Plus, photo enlargements of key details get readers up close to these masterpieces. As one of the world's oldest continuous art forms, Chinese painting has a truly special history. This comprehensive guide allows modern readers to travel through time, experiencing important moments in Chinese history and society through beautiful pieces of artwork.

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The dazzling splendors of the court of Napoleon I (1769–1821) reflected the grandeur and ambitions of the greatest empire of the day. This luxurious volume re-creates the ambiance and captures the spirit that prevailed in the French court during the Empire through the material manifestations of the Imperial Household. The Imperial Household, a key institution during Napoleon’s reign, was responsible for the daily lives of the Imperial family; it consisted of six departments, each headed by a high-ranking dignitary of the Empire: the grand chaplain, grand master of ceremonies, grand marshal of the Palace, grand master of the hunt, grand chamberlain, and grand equerry – each intimately involved with every moment of pageantry in the court. Featured here are more than 250 works of fine and decorative art, the visual magnificence of which was part of a calculated and deliberate effort to fashion a monarchic identity for the new emperor. Distributed for Editions Hazan, ParisExhibition Schedule:The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (01/23/18–05/13/18)Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (06/06/18–09/03/18)The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (10/04/18–01/13/19)Musée national du Château de Fontainebleau (04/13/19–07/15/19)

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"Graham has crafted a compact, jewel-like resource for all who seek to understand the sources, evolution, impact, and value of Japanese aesthetics and design principles in our modern world." —Dr. Jane Schall, Sanders Sosland Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of ArtThis beautifully illustrated guide offers stunning visual examples and detailed discussions of the objects, aesthetics, philosophy and cultural significance of Japanese design.Asian art expert Dr. Patricia Graham helps guide readers through the aspects of Japanese art and design we've all come to appreciate—whether it's a silk kimono, carefully raked garden path or modern snack food packaging. From the ten key characteristics of Japanese design to the Shinto and Buddhist influences on its aesthetics, this book serves as a great resource for the different styles and how they developed.Another fascinating and less explored piece of design in Japan is its influence on and interpretation by Westerners. From Frank Lloyd Wright to Lafcadio Hearn, artists, scientists, designers, journalists and philosophers were inspired by Japan's arts and crafts in the 19th century. This often romanticized version of Japanese design—viewed through a Western cultural lens—continues to influence our view of it to this day. Graham unpacks the sincere, but sometimes misguided, interpretations of concepts like wabi sabi and shibui.With more than 200 stunning color photos, this detailed guide will be enjoyed by everyone from professional designers to art students, and museum geeks to Japanophiles.

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A comprehensive survey of the work of the legendary Swiss artist, this book illustrates and examines more than 100 of his sculptures, paintings, drawings, and prints This lavishly illustrated retrospective traces the early and midcareer development of the preeminent Swiss artist Alberto Giacometti (1901–1966), examining the emergence of his distinct figural style through works including a series of walking men, elongated standing women, and numerous busts. Rare paintings and drawings from his formative period show the significance of landscape in Giacometti’s work, while also revealing the influence of the postimpressionist painters that surrounded his father, the artist Giovanni Giacometti. Other areas of inquiry on which Alberto Giacometti casts new light are his studio practice—amply illustrated with photographs—his obsessive focus on depicting the human head, his collaborations with poets and writers, and his development of the walking man sculpture, thanks to numerous drawings, many of which have never been shown. Original essays by modern art and Giacometti specialists shed new light on era-defining sculptural masterpieces, including the Walking Man, the Nose, and the Chariot, or on key aspects of his work, such as the significance of surrealism, his drawing practice, or the question of space.Distributed for the Cleveland Museum of ArtExhibition Schedule:Cleveland Museum of Art (March 12–June 12, 2022)Seattle Art Museum (July 14–October 9, 2022)Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (November 13, 2022–February 12, 2023)The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City (March 19–June 18, 2023)

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