Central Library
This work features four young girls seated against flowered foliage. They break into pairs and appear to examine flowers picked from the shrubbery. This work was painted in an impressionist style of painting. Where the details are substituted for swatches of color that convey the light and emotion of this warm and whimsical day. Pastel colors dissipate into white, seemingly framing the scene in bright sunlight. The colors extend onto the outermost layer of matting with a solid light pink layer of matting separating them. The original painting was by impressionist painter Willem Haenraets.
Gabriella Polony Mountain's work includes four major themes. The first three themes are clearly recognizable as the Cosmos, Nature, and Figural works with the fourth theme encompassing history, philosophy, and culture. In her life as an artist, Polony Mountain worked with many different medium including mosaics, weavings, sculpture, stained glass, and repousse. Sculpture is a three dimensional branch of the visual arts. In traditional forms of sculpture, the materials used were easily accessible and consisted of stone, metal, wood, ceramics.
This depiction of an early railroad worker, then-called "gandy dancers", was created by the artist to honor Irish immigrant laborers who contributed so greatly to the western expansion of the First Transcontinental Railroad in 1869. The figure shown balances on two railroad ties while holding a segment of track. The strain in his hand tendons and contracted muscles in his back indicate the heavy weight of the segment and the difficulty of the work in general.
In the 1972 film "Prime Cut", Nick Devlin (Lee Marvin), a Chicago Irish Mob enforcer is sent to Kansas City to collect a debt from Mary Ann (Gene Hackman), who heads a meatpacking and clandestine female slavery operation outside of the city. Throughout the movie, congruence between the two industries abound as Devlin and Mary Ann scheme to settle their dispute. The entire plot thrives off of the agricultural location and reality of each industry's existence in the area.
This print is of the "Self-Portrait" by well-known Missouri artist George Caleb Bingham. As the artist looks directly at the viewer, he successfully creates the effect of employing the viewer as mirror (-art.nelsonatkins.org). An interesting play on reflection arises from this dynamic that critics often relate to Bingham's career as an artist. As one of the last self-portraits Bingham created before his death he was likely valuing the relationship between subject and artist as well as the opportunity to be both.
Gabriella Polony Mountain's work includes four major themes. The first three themes are clearly recognizable as the Cosmos, Nature, and Figural works with the fourth theme encompassing history, philosophy, and culture. In her life as an artist, Polony Mountain worked with many different medium including mosaics, weavings, sculpture, stained glass, and repousse. Sculpture is a three dimensional branch of the visual arts. In traditional forms of sculpture, the materials used were easily accessible and consisted of stone, metal, wood, ceramics.
Asian influenced work, depicting sixteen upright attendants on a barge in the shape of a dragon. This appears to be a royal barge based on the use of the dragon and highly decorative aspects of the work. The dragon has a highly stylized gilded head dress, necklace, and gilded wings. The other color's decorating this mythical figure are green, white and red. The attendants displayed on the barge are wearing ceremonial regalia. The first figure, starting from the left, appears to be holding some type of gilded percussion instrument.
This globe is simple in its structural elements but detailed in its cartographic ones. It is tilted on its original axis and held in a full swing arm for maneuverability that allows one to easily view the details across each part of the globe. The color scheme and printed embellishments give it antique, distinguished look. Mountain ranges are in raised relief to provide an idea of the topography of each region. Landmasses are covered in a dense overlay of city and country names with occasional symbols corresponding to a legend located off the western coast of South America.
In ancient Greek architecture, caryatids are sculptures of draped female figures used in place of columns or pillars. These female structures often supported entablatures on their heads and in doing so, represented their strength and significance to the health and prosperity of society. Since the neck would otherwise be the thinnest and weakest part of the sculpture, caryatids often had thick, elaborate hairstyles that extended the length of their neck to reinforce the weight overhead.
This is an enlarged poster of a drawing of a downtown Kansas City block by Charles Graham. Beneath the image reads "NINTH STREET, KANSAS CITY, LOOKING WEST FROM WALNUT STREET-Drawn by Charles Graham- [SEE PAGE 451]." One gets a sense of what the artist may have seen while looking in this direction: a bustling city street alive with streetcars, patrons, and businesses. The buildings that extend the edge of the frame emphasize their verticality and provide a view contemplating the health and progression of the city.
Camille Pissarro was born on 10 July 1830 on the island of St. Thomas to Frederick and Rachel Manzano de Pissarro. Pissarro was one of the most renowned French Impressionist painters of the 19th century. During his formative years Pissarrro studied at the Savary Academy in Passy near Paris. While in school Pissarro developed a solid grounding towards painting and drawing, and was instructed by Monsieur Savary to observe nature as part of his artist discipline. Pissarro returned to St. Thomas where he drew in his free time.
The slogan "Heat Up, Cool Down" with the quite literal image of a gushing fire hydrant ablaze provides an exciting visual representation of the improvisational characteristic common to the jazz musical genre. According to this poster, 1983 was a "hot" year for the Kansas City Jazz Festival featuring artists Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald, George Benson, and Oscar Peterson. Events started August 27th and concluded September 4th with concerts, birthday parties, and luncheons every day.
Taken from the gallery label of the original work on display at the Nelson-Atkins: "Hollywood resulted from Thomas Hart Benton's Life magazine-sponsored excursion to Tinseltown in the summer of 1937. The composition unites various aspects of movie-making, revealing Benton's fascination with what he called "the machinery of the industry" responsible for cinematic effects.
This Howard Miller Presidential Collection Grandfather Clock is a free standing wooden floor clock. The clock has Windsor Cherry finish with crotch mahogany on the pediment and multi tier base. The white dial is accented with a polished brass bezel and Roman numerals. The case of the clock exhibits sculpted side columns with carved column caps, curved glass on the locking front door, and beveled glass on sides and front. The clock features an ornate golden pendulum bob and chimes. The right of the clock face contains the following text: WHITE ST. MICH WESTM. SILENT.
Ide Collar Company of Troy NY, was a popular men's clothier in the early twentieth century. This print captures a store front that displays the wears of Ide Collar Company. Iconic to Kansas City is that this site is located at the haberdashery that was owned by Truman and Jacobson. Harry S. Truman and his friend, Eddie Jacobson owned a haberdashery at 104 W. 12th St., Kansas City, Missouri. The name of the store was the Truman and Jacobson Haberdashery, located at 12th and Baltimore (104 West 12th) Kansas City, Missouri.
Warner Bros. 1964's release of the Italian production film "Il Vendicatore Di Kansas City". The plot of this film centers around the gunfighter Frank Dalton (Paul Piaget) and the sheriff (Fernando Casanova) seek the real culprit of a murder pinned on Dalton's sister. The predominant feature, in this full color illustration, is that of two gunslingers amidst a gunfight. The protagonist, Sheriff Paul, is depicted in the upper right, firing on the antagonist, purportedly the character Frank Dalton in the lower left of the illustration.
The plot of "Il Vendicatore Di Kansas City", a Warner Bros. release of the Italian production film directed by Agustín Navarro, centers around the gunfighter Frank Dalton (Paul Piaget) and the sheriff (Fernando Casanova) as they seek the real culprit of a murder pinned on Dalton's sister. This poster features the title of the film in a striking film noir font over a black and white silhouette of the sheriff. To the right a watercolored film still of Dalton fiercely interrogating a woman who cowers away from him.
Warner Bros. 1964's release of the Italian production film "Il Vendicatore Di Kansas City". The plot of this film centers around the gunfighter Frank Dalton, portrayed by Paul Piaget, and the sheriff, portrayed by Fernando Casanova, seek the real culprit of a murder pinned on Dalton's sister. The predominant feature, in this full color depiction, details Fernando Casanova, disarming Paul Piaget. Casanova appears casting Piaget's gun away, as Piaget is raising his arms in surrender.
This print features a young Black girl seen wearing a sorority blouse and red pencil skirt. A line of presumed family and friends extends from detail in the foreground into the haze of the background. Although in close proximity to one another, each figure appears to stand alone, collaged into the young girl's memory of those who have influenced her in life. As she steps forward, breaking away from her system of influence, she looks back and considers their impact as she advances on her next journey.
Gabriella Polony Mountain's work includes four major themes. The first three themes are clearly recognizable as the Cosmos, Nature, and Figural works with the fourth theme encompassing history, philosophy, and culture. In her life as an artist, Polony Mountain worked with many different medium including mosaics, weavings, sculpture, stained glass, and repousse. Weaving is a technique used to make textiles by interlacing thread.