Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art

After Crystal Bridge and the Smithsonian, we planned to take a break from art, then we went to the sculpture garden in Kansan City and, oh dear, this outstanding museum that is now ranked among our top five.  Like the other two mentioned, it also does NOT charge admission ($8 for parking if you use their garage).  What made the vast range of art manageable, is that each gallery is a comfortable size so that you can visit many galleries and not feel exhausted (museum fatigue).

We did go just for the sculpture, mostly Henry Moore

and these wonderful shuttlecocks by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen

and this eerie glass maze that caused Anna Lee a surprising feeling of claustrophobia

and these (dresses)

and the silvertree

 But we had to walk through the museum to get from the garage to the sculpture and that was where we made our mistake.  We passed art that tempted us and so we returned for a wonderful afternoon and the wish we could come back the next day.

This amazing wall hanging is made of metal bottle caps.  A docent told us about the Kenyan  artist who created it.  Even close it looks like fabric.  It weights 165 pounds and contains 20,000 bottle caps (apparently all art must be closely inspected upon arrival).

This lovely blue arc was created by a former NASA engineer.

Maya Lin’s Silver Missouri reminded us of her wonderful installation at the Renwick in DC.

This work by Luis Tomasello is a chromo-plastic mural made of 672 white and orange blocks.

The Isamu Noguchi Sculpture Court is ideal for quiet contemplation.

The African Art room has pieces from 500 BCE (yes, Before the Common Era).

The Sirige mask (a six-foot high storied house) is worn upon the head of a Nigerian dancer.

The Water Diety Headdress, a crocodile with a woman’s hairdo,  is from the 1900s.

The Adinkra Stamped Cloth is from the 1700s.  Men would use wooden stamps to create the pattern they wanted for their final trip to the next world.

This untitled vessel is the newest item, created in 1994.

An exhibit of anonymous photographs show life as we tried to capture it with our cameras.  Topics range from people, to vacations, to taunting poses. 

We enjoyed seeing pieces by artists whom we have enjoyed in our travels on this and previous trips.

Thiebaud, from Sacramento

Duane Hanson's  Museum Guard.  He also has “men” in Crystal Bridges in Arkansas and in the Milwaukee Art Museum.

We first saw Donald Judd’s work in Chinati in Marfa, TX.

Our last rooms were filled with an outstanding collection of Egyptian, Greek and Roman art, much acquired during the Depression when the museum foundation had a lot of money.