Art Saves Lives
Whenever I travel, which is not often, I like to seek out the best art museums I can find. Not every city has an art museum and the grace and allure of a city does not always translate to a graceful and alluring art collection. It all comes down to what the barons of industry have in mind to collect and share.
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City hits the mark though. A great collection worthy of the Paris of the Plains.
I had a morning to spend and did a little research on the highlights. Carravagio, Sargent, Monet. Wasn't until I was on site that I discovered also a huge 20th century wing: Warhol. Rothko, Thiebaud, Stella. This visit might take a while.
Naturally, whilst wandering, I am drawn to the still life. The underdog of artistic genres, but - according to Manet - the touchstone of all painting. A stand out in particular; a vase of flowers by Henri Fantin-Latour (French, 1836-1904) who turns out painted one of my hometown fave still lifes at TMA.
Speaking of Manet… during the last year of his life, he painted around 20 floral still lifes from his bedside. Nelson-Atkins has one of these death bead bouquets.
I almost missed the Water Lillies. The galleries are a bit small at Nelson-Atkins and sometimes if you don't go all in, you might miss say a wall-seized masterpiece.
The Sargent was great. Apparently his first commission after Madame X. Huge white-on-white satin gown taking up a lot of the frame. Skittering brush work so captivating, so dashing. So what if the model looks like a board.
The most moving piece for me, though, was a monumental work hung in a stairwell. Brutality by John Douglas Patrick (American, 1863-1937) depicts a horse-driver beating a horse.
Patrick created this dramatic painting in response to the mistreatment of horses in Paris, where he was a student from 1885 to 1888. Brutality was so effective that when it was shown in Paris's 1889 Universal Exposition, the city's horse drivers attempted to have it removed from view. Their protests went unheeded, and Brutality was awarded a third place medal. Six years later, the French Society for the Protection of Animals enacted a law to defend horses from abuse and overwork.
