Nelson-Atkins Art Museum

Nelson-Atkins Art Museum

The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art is a Kansas City, Missouri-based art museum recognised for its encyclopaedic collection of art from practically every continent and culture, particularly its enormous collection of Asian art.

Time magazine named the museum's new Bloch Building first on its list of "The 10 Best (New and Upcoming) Architectural Marvels" in 2007, considering nominees from all across the world.

Julián Zugazagoitia (b. 1964) was appointed as the museum's fifth Director on September 1, 2010.  Zugazagoitia formerly worked as the Director and CEO of El Museo del Barrio in New York City for seven years. The museum is open five days a week: Monday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., closed Tuesday and Wednesday, open Thursday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Friday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Visitors must reserve a timed entrance ticket online or by phone to preserve social distance in the galleries. There is no admission fee.

The museum was constructed on the grounds of Oak Hall, which was the residence of Kansas City Star editor William Rockhill Nelson (1841-1915). When he died in 1915, his will stated that the revenues of his whole estate would be used to purchase artwork for public pleasure after the deaths of his wife and daughter. This legacy was supplemented by assets from Nelson's daughter's, son-in- law's, and attorney's estates.

Mary McAfee Atkins (1836-1911), widow of real estate magnate James Burris Atkins, contributed $300,000 to build an art museum in 1911. This sum expanded to $700,000 by 1927 because to good estate management and a thriving economy. Based on the different bequests, the original designs intended for two art museums (with the Atkins Museum to be located in Penn Valley Park). The trustees of the two estates, however, chose to merge the two bequests, as well as minor bequests from others, to form a single large art organisation.

Wight & Wight, notable Kansas City architects who also created the entrances to the Liberty Memorial and the Kansas governor's residence, Cedar Crest, designed the structure. The museum commenced ground in July 1930 and opened on December 11, 1933. The Cleveland Museum of Art inspired the building's classical Beaux-Arts architecture style. Thomas Wight, the brother who conducted the most of the building's architectural work, stated:

We are constructing the museum on traditional principles. We are constructing the museum on traditional concepts that have stood the test of time. A particularly American principle suitable for such a structure may be devised, but thus far, anything of the like is experimental. One does not experiment with 2.5 million bucks.

The original building cost $2.75 million to build (about $54 million in 2018). The six-story edifice was 390 feet (120 metres) long and 175 feet (53 metres) broad, making it larger than the Cleveland Museum of Art.

Until 1983, when it was formally called the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, the museum was known locally as the Nelson Art Gallery or just the Nelson Gallery. The east wing was previously known as the Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, while the west wing and lobby were known as the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art.

Charles Keck painted 23 limestone panels on the building's facade showing the march of civilisation from east to west, including waggon trains travelling west from Westport Landing. In commemoration of Oak Hall, the grillwork on the doorways depicts oak leaf themes. The museum's south facade is a landmark edifice in Kansas City, towering over a series of terraces overlooking Brush Creek. Around the same time as the museum's construction, Howard Vanderslice gave the Kansas City Art Institute 8 acres (32,000 m2) to the west of the museum, across Oak Street. Approximately at the same time as the museum's construction, Howard Vanderslice donated 8 acres (32,000 m2) to the west of the museum, across Oak Street, for the Kansas City Art Institute, which relocated from the Deardorf Building at 11th and Main streets in downtown Kansas City.

Because the principal contributor, William Nelson, provided money rather than a personal art collection, the curators were free to build a collection from the ground up. The global art market was swamped with pieces for sale at the height of the Great Depression, yet there were relatively few customers. As a result, the museum's purchasers discovered a wide market available to them. The purchases increased swiftly, and the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art soon possessed one of the biggest art collections in the world.

The European painting collection of the museum is highly valued. The collection includes works by Caravaggio, Jusepe de Ribera, Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin, Petrus Christus, Gustav Courbet, El Greco, Giambattista Pittoni, Guercino, Alessandro Magnasco, Giuseppe Bazzani, Corrado Giaquinto, Cavaliere d'Arpino, Gaspare Traversi, Giuliano Bugiardini, Titian,

After forensic examination of its underpainting, The Temptation of St. Anthony, a tiny panel long assigned to Hieronymus Bosch's studio, was acknowledged to the painter himself in early 2016, joining the ranks of just 25 verified Bosch paintings in the world. The Nelson-Atkins also features several excellent Late Gothic and Early Gothic pieces. Fine Late Gothic and Early Italian Renaissance paintings by Jacopo del Casentino (The Presentation of Christ in the Temple), Giovanni di Paolo and Workshop, Bernardo Daddi and Workshop, Lorenzo Monaco, Gherardo Starnina (The Adoration of the Magi), and Lorenzo di Credi are also on display at the Nelson-Atkins. Max Beckmann, Karl Hofer (Record Player), Emil Nolde, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, and Oskar Kokoschka are among the artists represented (Pyramids of Egypt).

Museum Hours

Monday		10am – 5pm
Tuesday, Wednesday		Closed
Thursday		10am – 5pm
Friday		10am – 9pm
Saturday, Sunday		10am – 5pm