For 40 years, visitors to the children’s section of the Kansas City Public Library’s old main location at 1211 McGee, were greeted by a stunning work of art. At over 35 feet long and 7 feet tall, a brightly colored mosaic depicting a procession of children and circus animals dominated the entrance of the building.

Many of the library’s patrons never knew the name Arthur Kraft, the Kansas City artist who made the mosaic, but they knew the joy of his imagination. In 2020, developers razed the building, which once housed the Library and the Kansas City Board of Education offices.

A reader asked us to shed light on the whereabouts of the mosaic and the artist whose vision it was.

Kraft was born in Kansas City on Aug. 31, 1921, and quickly took to painting. In 1932, at the age of 11, Kraft exhibited pipe cleaner sculptures at the inaugural Plaza Art Fair. By 13, he had graduated to selling painted matchboxes and oil portraits.

It was clear even at this early age that Kraft possessed a raw talent for art. He soon began attending Sunday morning art classes at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.

Read the rest of the story at KCHistory.org.