VISITE au Musée Nelson Atkins
Samedi 24 avril 11h00 – 13h30
Venez assister à cette visite de la nouvelle collection de
l’Art des Améroindiens au Musée Nelson-Atkins, commentée en français par
Shirley Spiegel, guide francophone officiel du Musée. Déjeuner ensemble en
français dans le Rozzelle Court à 12:00.
Nous nous rencontrerons à 10:55 devant la boutique qui se situe dans
le bâtiment Bloch.
La participation est
limitée aux vingt premières personnes qui s’inscrivent. Pour s’inscrire
envoyez un courriel à Mary Joe à
chouette55@yahoo.com ou téléphonez-lui à
816-699-0363 pas plus tard que vendredi le 23 avril.
A visit to the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art will take place this
Saturday, April 24th from
11:00 to 1:00. We will be touring the American Indian Collection, led in
French by Shirley Spiegel, an official francophone docent of the museum.
After the tour, we will have lunch in the Rozzelle Court. Please meet in
front of the gift shop at 10:55 am. You may still reserve up until
Friday, April 23rd by e-mailing Mary Joe Essex at
chouette55@yahoo.com or by calling
her at 816-699-0363.
On Nov. 11, 2009, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art unveiled a new suite of
American Indian galleries honoring and giving new emphasis to the artistic
achievement of Native peoples from across North America.
With more than 6,100 square feet, the three galleries are among the largest
devoted to American Indian art in any comprehensive art museum in the world
and quadruples the amount of space previously devoted to American Indian art
at the Nelson-Atkins.
The American Indian collection encompasses important works from all North
American culture areas, dating from pre-contact to the present, and includes
pottery, basketry, quill and beadwork, textiles, painting and sculpture.
The core collection was established at the time of the Museum’s opening in
1933 with major purchases from the Museum of the American Indian/Heye
Foundation (now the National Museum of the American Indian) and the Fred
Harvey Company, reflecting the Nelson-Atkins’ endeavor to present Native
artistic traditions as an important part of our national heritage.
The collection’s greatest depth is in a group of classic Navajo and
Pueblo textiles, nearly encyclopedic in range of exceptional quality, and a
superb selection of Rio Grande Pueblo pots, including what is perhaps the
finest known early 19th century Santa Ana/Zia jar. The Southwestern
collection also includes stellar works from mid-20th century jewelry masters
Leekya and Lambert Homer.
In 2009, the Museum gratefully accepted a gift of pivotal importance—the
private collection of Pacific Northwest works of art from Morton and Estelle
Sosland—which are part of the new galleries.
Click here for more details about this extraordinary gift from
the Sosland family.
Read more about the American Indian Collection
The diverse bodies of works in the collection include a number of objects recognized as masterpieces of their kind. A few of the most notable include a magnificent Cheyenne eagle feather war bonnet; a rare and important Chumash basket; one of the great shaman’s frontlets collected from the Tlingit; and an exquisitely beaded Kiowa cradle attributed to Tahdo.
The holdings of Plains, Prairie and Woodland art have grown significantly in both strength and diversity over the past seven decades through numerous gifts. Among the most important is the earliest book of drawings by renowned Kiowa artist Silver Horn; a rare, fully appointed, 18th century Delaware spirit doll; one of the few fully beaded Crow boy’s shirts; and one of the three earliest known Great Lakes beaded bandolier bags.
Recently, the Donald D. Jones bequest of 170 works representing a wide range of objects and tribal groups was recently added, providing an 18th century human effigy wooden pipe bowl from the Midwest; a powerful Lakota war club carved in the representation of a bear’s head; and a modern toy cradle by Joyce Growing Thunder Fogarty. These Museum holdings were amplified by a long-term loan of 600 Plains Indian objects from Conception Abbey, Missouri, which includes a Lakota dress regarded as an icon of 19th century Plains pictographic drawing.
The collection achieved new prominence in 2002 with the establishment of the Department of American Indian Art. This varied group includes a number of masterworks from earlier periods together with several pieces by contemporary artists, reflecting the Museum’s new focus on the achievement and recognition of Native artists working today. The most important of these include a remarkable visionary shield from the Arikara; a Mississippian human head effigy jar, widely recognized as the finest of its type; an exceptionally rare 17th-century Algonquian feast bowl; and a superb black-dyed, quilled tab bag from the central Woodlands.
The growing contemporary collection includes important ceramic works by Santa Clara potter Roxanne Swentzell and Cochiti artist Diego Romero and a traditionally inspired horse stick by Lakota artist Butch Thunder Hawk.