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The totem pole included images of Kansas City, including figures that honor the mayor, donor, and the art museum director at the time of its creation in 1977. The removal of this work and the interpretive marker that accompanied it occurred sometime between fall 2023 and February 2024. In recent years, there has been greater attention to the potential of both intentional and unintentional acts of cultural appropriation, and it is possible that the museum decided to quietly remove this piece because it included images of non-Native people. At the same time, the removal may be temporary or part of a plan to replace the work with something more directly focused on Native American history. Because there has been no information about the removal of this work, the author of this Clio entry has reached out to the museum for comment and hopes to be able to provide an update soon.

Totem Pole by Kenny Mowatt and Charles Heit 

The totem pole includes images of Kansas City, including figures that honor the mayor, donor, and the art museum director at the time of its creation in 1977.

This photo of the former location of the Totem Pole was taken in February 2024

This sculpture was commissioned by the museum to be a centerpiece of their 1977 exhibition "Sacred Circles: Two Thousand Years of North American Indian Art." The work was completed by artists Kenny Mowatt and Charles Heit and depicts the symbol of Kansas City in the claws of the raven at the top. The three figures around the base of the work are meant to depict the mayor of Kansas City at the time along with the patron and art museum director who commissioned the work. The work was removed between late 2023 and early 2024 for reasons that have not yet been disclosed by the museum.

Totem Pole (1977-2024)

Open year-round, this 22-acre outdoor sculpture garden winds its way around the lawn of Kansas City's Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art and includes the four iconic Shuttlecocks that have become a symbol of both the museum and city. Dating back to 1986, the site features numerous works by various artists and is home to one of the largest collections in the world from renowned English artist Henry Moore. In fact, the museum had acquired 57 of Moore's sculptures in 1986 from the Hall Family Foundation, and when 10 more were obtained in 1989 it was judiciously named the Henry Moore Sculpture Garden. With the support of the Hall Family Foundation and Sosland Family, the museum began acquiring additional works in the early 1990s, to which the outdoor exhibition was renamed the Kansas City Sculpture Park in 1996. Following the gift of the Hall Family Foundation's entire collection of 84 works in 2014, the sculpture garden was renamed to Donald J. Hall Sculpture Park, after then-chairman of the board and son of the founder of Hallmark Cards.

Click the audio link for a short introduction to the sculpture garden from Clio founder and Kansas City historian David Trowbridge.

Introduction to the tour

One of the most renowned Polish artists of the 20th century, Magdalena Abakanowicz often shared how this and some of her other works were shaped by her experiences as a young woman in Poland under Nazi and Soviet occupation. In the 1950s, Abakanowicz began making abstract works using fiber-based sculptures and later turned to creating figurative textile pieces in the following decade along with other materials such as the bronze one sees in this work. This piece is one of several works Abakanowicz designed that make use of headless figures, including Agora in Chicago which is also included in Clio as part of the walking tour for Grant Park. Abakanowicz was a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Poznań for thirty-five years.Although her work is as varied as her long career, Abakanowicz remains best known for groups of humanoid sculptures. Placed in context of her wartime experiences and her own explanation of this theme, one feels a sense that her work communicates something about the difficulty of exploring the meaning of humanity at scale. "I feel overawed by quantity where counting no longer makes sense," Abakanowicz explained when describing her work Caminando which was once part of the private collection of actor Robin Williams who was known best for his spontaneity and uniqueness."By creatures of nature gathered in herds, droves, species, in which each individual while subservient to the mass retains some distinguishing features," the artist continued. "A crowd of people or birds, insects or leaves, is a mysterious assemblage of variants of certain prototypes: a riddle of nature's abhorrence of exact repetition, or inability to produce it. Just as the human hand cannot repeat its own gesture, I invoke this disturbing law, switching my own immobile herds into that rhythm." Robin Williams owned several pieces by Abakanowicz, and in 2018, the late actor's collection was sold at auction to benefit a variety of charities he supported.

This bronze work by Polish artist Magdalena Abakanowicz was created over a four year span from 1994 to 1998. The artist witnessed the violence of the Nazi invasion of her home country as a girl, leading some to believe that the thirty headless figures may be victims. The piece is certainly haunting by most interpretations, but others notice the unique qualities of each figure and feel that the piece speaks to human individuality. After its dedication, the artist expressed her hope that viewers would consider multiple interpretations and possibilities. Each of the thirty bronze figures began with a cast from a burlap-lined body mold. Other works by Abakanowicz can be seen throughout leading cities of the United States and central Europe, as well as many private collections. The work is a gift from the Hall Family Foundation which supports education and the arts in Kansas City and the region.

Standing Figures (Thirty Figures) 

A gift of the Sosland Family, this is one of four 18-foot shuttlecocks that have graced the lawn of the Nelson-Atkins since their installation in 1994. At the time, opinions varied widely about the artistic value and even the propriety of "scattering four birdies" on the lawn of a museum that featured a vast collection of classical works. While some of the city's most influential residents denied the artistical value and suggested that the aluminum and fiberglass-reinforced plastic works were not worthy of inclusion within a museum dedicated to art, others embraced the whimsical imagination of husband and wife artistical team of Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen. The pair imagined the vast lawn of the Nelson-Atkins Museum as a badminton court divided by the neoclassical building much as a net separates a court. Each of the shuttlecocks weigh 5,500 pounds. Over the years, the four shuttlecocks have become a beloved symbol of the museum and the city.

North Lawn Shuttlecock

George Rickey was born on June 6, 1907 in South Bend, Indiana. While his father was an engineer, Rickey decided to study art and taught history in the early years of the Great Depression before becoming an art teacher and artist. Rickey became a professor of art in 1941 at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania but left the following year to serve in the army where he worked as an engineer. He returned to Muhlenberg College after the war and later accepted positions at Indiana University and Tulane University among other academic positions and appointments as an artist in residence.Rickey's first major honor for his work came in 1960 when he was awarded a fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Rickey creates a series of kinetic sculptures with planes that were balanced but also designed to move in relation to wind. For some who walk through the sculpture park at the Nelson-Atkins Museum, this metallic piece both stands out and blends in with the trees and also moves with the wind.For some, this kinetic work resembles a tree with it's metallic trunk and the burnished surfaces on the two squares that may resemble leaves. Shortly before his passing at the age of 95 in 2002, Rickey was awarded the Lifetime Achievement in Contemporary Sculpture Award from the International Sculpture Center, Washington, D.C. After his passing, the artist was honored with a memorial at the Guggenheim Museum.<blockquote>“I am not an inventor. I have learned that 'new' does not mean 'good,' that novelty is seductive but treacherous. This does not mean that I don’t have a frontier to explore. I am deeply interested in what lies just beyond the frontier. I try to cross it, to glimpse what awaits there, as discovery, as a possibly expressive language. What lies there is not new; it has been there all the time, waiting to be used.” George Rickey, 1985. </blockquote>

Dedicated in 1968, this kinetic sculpture by George Rickey was designed with an intricate system of bearings and counterweights so that it could move with the wind. This theme of balance and movement is present throughout many of Rickey's works, and this sculpture which was a gift to the museum from the Sosland family reflects the artist's background as both an engineer and an artist. Kansas City was home to the first of four similar sculptures by Rickey that can now be seen in New York, Seattle, and on the Princeton campus in New Jersey. A gift to Kansas City from the Sosland Family, Similar to other works by Rickey, the kinetic sculpture balances not just two planes, but the mathematical precision of an engineer and the unpredictability of the wind. For some, the work is a representation of the need for balance between forces we can predict that keep the two planes balanced, and those we cannot such as the wind that causes the planes to move.

Two Planes Vertical-Horizontal

Reliefs by Henry Moore can be seen as early as 1922, though he never had the desire to carve them as he preferred the spatial richness of sculpting in the round. However, his interest in relief sculpture was ignited in the 1950s. After he was commissioned in 1955 for a large relief in the brick facade at the Bouwcentrum building in Rotterdam, Netherlands, Moore got the idea of freeing traditional relief forms from their fixed state typically seen in a wall. The forms seen within Relief No. 1 have similar qualities to those of the maquette for the Bouwcentrum commission, Wall Relief Maquette No. 3.Relief No. 1 is considered a freestanding relief, as the back is flat and meant to be exhibited along a flat surface but can still be viewed from multiple angles. Another likely inspiration for Relief No. 1 came the year after the Bouwcentrum commission, in May 1956 while Moore was serving as a trustee for the Tate gallery. He was advised on how to exhibit the series of Backs (1909-1930) by Henri Matisse, which are freestanding reliefs using a human form and closely resemble the style of Relief No. 1, which was created three years later. The intention through Moore's commonly ambiguous forms were to be subconsciously completed from the viewers’ personal experiences, while using his own as inspiration. Often using the female form and theme of mother-and-child, Moore showed much compassion and emotion through his work. He was also able to capture great sympathy and humanity, which can be seen most obviously in his famous Shelter Drawings in the 1940s. The undulating forms within Relief No. 1 were possibly inspired by this passion and his own experience around this time. While visiting Pompeii in 1954, he became captivated by the plaster casts of preserved corpses that had been buried by the ash, even taking the time to photograph many of them. If one can picture Relief No. 1 lying flat on the ground, a resemblance to these victims can be seen. Relief No. 1 was acquired by the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art through the Mrs. Alfred B. Clark Foundation.Gallery Label <blockquote>“Relief No. 1 depicts the abstracted form of a woman standing with her weight on her left hip and her right knee jutting forward. Her head, undulating shoulders and breasts are implied by geometric cubic forms. Moore addressed this intentional ambiguity of form when he said that the "non-logical, instinctive, subconscious part of [the viewer's] mind must play a part" in completing and understanding his work. While most of Moore's sculptures are meant to be seen in the round, this relief sculpture was intended to be viewed against a wall.”</blockquote>

Completed in 1959, this freestanding mezzo relief is considered a rare form by Henry Moore as it contrasts his preference to sculpt in the round. Though ambiguous, Relief No. 1 depicts the three major divisions of a human body - the head, the torso, and the legs. The undulating arrangement of shapes suggest a female form, while the emphasis on the recessions and projections evoke a forceful quality, unlike the pictorial narrative of a traditional relief. The intentionally incomplete, seven-foot bronze figure appears to be leaning or stepping forward through the implication of its tilted shoulders and extended right leg. In order to cast Relief No. 1, the plaster mold was cut into four sections. The finished bronze pieces were then welded together, in which the seams on the front were filed down, though are still visible on the back.

Relief No. 1

The inclusion of this classic work by Rodin demonstrates the connection between his work and that of the sculpture garden's featured artist Henry More. From an early age, Moore was inspired by Rodin’s “complete understanding of the body’s internal structure” and became fascinated with the human figure. At the time of Rodin's death in 1917, Moore was a nineteen-year-old soldier serving in France in the midst of World War I. In a 1970 interview with the Hayward Gallery in London which featured the works of Rodin alongside those of Moore, the latter spoke extensively of how Rodin was the artist who best understood and exemplified Michaelangelo and is also most responsible for the increased interest and appreciation for sculpture during the late 19th and early 20th centuries."I can see a big connection between Rodin and Michelangelo," Rodin explained in the 1970 interview. "He's the one artist since Michelangelo who has understood Michelangelo best." Moore continued by crediting Rodin for bringing the art of making sculptures "out of the doldrums." "I can remember as a young sculptor reading a review of a mixed exhibition when the writer said he didn't intend to talk about sculpture as it was a dead art, only something to bump into or to knock your head against. Now everything has changed... something remarkable has happened, and to a great extent it is Rodin who is responsible."

One of over two dozen bronze casts of Rodin's Thinker, this work in within the Hall Sculpture Garden was likely cast in 1949, forty-five years after the artist's work was first cast in bronze. That first cast was based on Rodin's 1880 work that was originally conceived as a portrait of the poet Dante. The first cast (1904) is on display at Musée Rodin, in Paris.Kansas City's version of Rodin's Thinker was made possible through the Board of Parks and Recreation Commissioners and a gift of Grant I. and Mathilde Rosenzweig.

Rodin's Thinker

Best known for using the human form in his artwork, Henry Moore created Three Part Object employing an insect-like design. It features three biomorphic segments that balance on one another at an angle, creating a C-shape depending on the viewing angle. The bottom form is more spherical while the top two segments are recessed and contain an angular protrusion. Created in 1960, Three Part Object is an early example of work in the era that Henry Moore was experimenting with and increasing the level of abstraction in his sculpting. <blockquote>Gallery Label</blockquote><blockquote>“Henry Moore observed that "Three-Part Object is a strange work, even for me. Three similar forms are balanced at angles to each other. In my mind it has a connection with insect life, possibly centipedes. Each segment has a leg, and there is an element in the sculpture nearer to an animal organism than a human one."</blockquote><h3>Torso</h3>Created in 1967, Torso is an example of the compact, abstract form that Moore implemented in his work in the 60s. The bronze evokes a living form, though it is open to interpretation by each viewer based on their own experiences, as seen in much of Moore’s work. <blockquote>Gallery Label </blockquote><blockquote>“Torso is an ambiguous, organic abstraction that evokes human, animal and other natural forms. It is as much a portrayal of massive tree limbs as it is a rendition of the body. Moore said: "Trunks of trees are very human. A branch that comes out from the main trunk is like an arm coming out from a body."</blockquote><h3>Shuttlecock</h3>One of four 19-foot tall shuttlecock sculptures created by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen in 1994. The sculptures were commissioned by The Nelson through the generosity of the Sosland Family. <blockquote>Gallery Label</blockquote><blockquote>“The husband and wife team of Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen were commissioned in 1994 to design a sculpture for The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. They responded to the formality of the original neoclassical building and the green expanse of its lawn by imagining the Museum as a badminton net and the lawn as a playing field. The pair designed four birdies or shuttlecocks that were placed as though they had just landed on opposite sides of the net. Each shuttlecock weighs 5,500 pounds, stands nearly 18 feet tall and has a diameter of some 16 feet.”</blockquote>

The southwest terrace of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art features three works, one of four iconic Shuttlecocks (1994) by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen and two bronze sculptures by Henry Moore, Torso (1967) and Three Part Object (1960). The two bronze Moore pieces seen here were gifted to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art by the Hall Family Foundation. English artist Henry Moore is best known for his sculptures using human form. As an artist who grew up in the countryside of Yorkshire and lived his adult life in rural Hertfordshire, he was also inspired by the landscape and often used references of nature in his work. Into the 60s, he started experimenting with more abstract, ambiguous forms. While some of these forms are more compact and dense in silhouette, they still exhibit a sense of movement which was more distinct in his previous works. Moore described the progression of his work as, “becoming less representational, less outwardly a visual copy, and so what some people would call more abstract; but only because in this way I can present the human psychological context of my work with the greatest clearness and intensity.”

Three Part Object, Torso, and Shuttlecock

<h3>Peace On Earth</h3>Jacques Lipchitz (1891-1973) is best known for his contributions to and transformative work in Cubism in the early twentieth century. Born to a Jewish family in a small Russian-ruled town in modern-day Lithuania as Chaim Jacob Lipchitz, he studied engineering for a short time at a state high school until he moved to Paris in 1909 to pursue the arts. There, he assumed the name Jacques and enrolled at the École des Beaux-Art and Academie Julian. In a time when avante garde was flourishing in Paris, Lipchitz became friends with some of the most notable artists and began transforming the characteristics from Cubist paintings into sculpture. Lipchitz’s work began to move towards a more figurative style in the 20s. He started incorporating negative space which allowed viewers to see through the sculptures, classifying them as “Transparents.” By 1930 he became publicly known and was exhibiting internationally. However, due to his Jewish heritage upon the onset of World War II and the Nazi invasion into Paris in 1940, he fled to the United States, landing in New York. The horrific acts being inflicted on the Jewish people led Jacques to rediscover his religion and spirituality, which is clearly exhibited in his later works. Peace on Earth was created in 1969 and evokes Lipchitz’ emotional, spiritual expression. The ten-foot tall bronze depicts prima materia at the base which then transforms upwards into the Lamb of God, angels, and the Virgin Mary, who is encapsulated by a tear-shaped canopy. The sculpture culminates with a dove, the universal symbol for peace. The work was donated by the Elmer F. Pierson Foundation and was originally part of the E.F. Pierson Sculpture Garden dedicated in 1972, then renovated and merged with the Kansas City Sculpture Park in 2006 before becoming Donald J. Hall Sculpture Park in 2014. Gallery Label Description<blockquote>“Peace on Earth incorporates themes and motifs that Lipchitz had been exploring for 20 years. The knotted masses at the base represent prima materia, the raw matter from which all things emerge. Progressing upward are depicted: the Lamb of God, angels, the Virgin Mary and ultimately the Holy Spirit, in the traditional form of a dove. Peace on Earth is an optimistic work expressing the transformation of flesh into spirit. Its broader, underlying theme of metamorphosis occupied Lipchitz throughout his career.”</blockquote><h3>The Large Bather</h3>Less known for his sculpting, Pierre Auguste Renoir (1841–1919) was a central figure of the early French Impressionist movement in the mid-nineteenth century as a painter. As a boy he developed an early talent for drawing and worked painting designs on fine china at a porcelain factory. He started studying and exhibiting paintings in the 1860s and by the 80s, his techniques moved from colorful portrayals of real life scenarios and landscapes to more formal, figurative work and portraiture, particularly of women. Nearing the turn of the century, Renoir developed rheumatoid arthritis, eventually developing deformities in his hands and becoming wheelchair-bound. Into the 1900s, he painted with brushes tied to his fingers and used moving canvases to aid in his work, but also started sculpting during this period. Due to his limited mobility, he recruited assistants to model the clay, in which he would supply drawings of his ideas. For The Large Bather, he employed Richard Guino. Similar to his earlier Impressionistic paintings of bathing women, this bronze was sculpted from 1917-18. Also known as La Laveuse, The Washerwoman, and The Large Stooping Washerwoman, The Larger Bather was originally planned to be part of a complimenting pair symbolizing fire and water, featuring a Blacksmith heating iron on a stove and a washerwoman rinsing the laundry. However, the former was never completed due to growing tensions between Renoir and Guino. Multiple small models of the washerwoman were created to explore variations of the position of her arms and hands before attempting on a larger scale, but at the time of Guino’s separation in December 1918, the 4-foot sculpture was still in a rough phase and finished at a later time. The Larger Bather was purchased in 1977 from the Galerie Andrée Stassart in Paris by the Elmer F. Pierson Foundation for the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.Gallery Label Description<blockquote>“Renoir is famous as one of the great Impressionist painters, but he is less well known as a sculptor. Late in life, when he was crippled with arthritis, he produced some 24 sculptures including this impressive work. Also known as The Washerwoman, it represents a nude lifting her laundry from the water. The rugged, bronze surfaces, in contrast to the polish of academic sculpture, can be related to the “sketchiness” of Impressionism. Due to his disability, the sculpture was made under Renoir’s strict direction by his talented assistant, Richard Guino.”</blockquote><h3>Bas-Relief Woman</h3>Playing a critical role in the shaping of American Modernism, Gaston Lachaise (1882-1935) is best known for his nude female figures. Lachaise was born in Paris and lived there until 1905. After studying art in his early teens, he was accepted to the Academie Nationale des Beaux-Arts at age 17 where he began showing annually at their official art exhibition Salon, quickly gaining recognition. Around 1903 he met the love of his life, Isabel Nagel, who was the reason he left for the United States in 1905, later became his wife and was the primary inspiration for his work. The model for Bas Relief Woman was created over a nine year period, starting in 1925. Lachaise resumed the work in 1934, with the final figure being more voluptuous than preliminary forms. The full-figured woman stands on her tip-toes with one hand on her hip and the other to her side with an open palm, articulated curves, and a veil draped over her head. Referring to her as “Woman” throughout his works, the woman depicted is Lachaise’s wife Isabel, who he referred to as “majestic” and “the Goddess I am seeking to express in all things." Also called Relief (Woman), the plaster mold was shown in Lachaise’s 1935 retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art but not cast, however, until decades later when the Lachaise Foundation issued a series of eight on behalf of the artist’s estate. The present form was the second cast (1993) and was purchased by the William Rockhill Nelson Trust through the George H. and Elizabeth O. Davis Fund. Gallery Label Description<blockquote>“Bas Relief Woman is Gaston Lachaise's elegant homage to Isabel, his wife and life-long model. Here he presents his beloved as he saw her: a voluptuous earth mother overflowing with cosmic energy. Serenely confident and strong, she gracefully extends her left hand while balancing effortlessly on her toes. Lachaise refines the sinuous curves and proportions of his muse in this highly stylized bronze relief.”</blockquote><h3>Return of the Prodigal Son</h3>Originally working in the Cubist style, Jacques Lipchitz turned from geometric shapes to more figurative forms in the 1920s. This new work removed obvious details of the subject while delineating softer lines and negative space throughout the sculpture. He classified these works as “Transparents” as viewers can see through the openings in the piece. One of Lipchitz’s earlier Transparent works, Return of the Prodigal Son was sculpted in 1931. This nearly 4-foot sculpture depicts two abstract human figures, the top figure appearing to lean over the other in an emotional embrace. While the title of this allegorical sculpture seems to allude to a biblical reference, given the definition of “prodigal son,” a boy who leaves home without the approval of his family but later makes a repentant return, another possible denotation is perhaps a personal reference to Lipchitz’s own experience. Born to a successful building contractor in a small, Litvak town under Russian rule (modern-day Lithuania), Jacques' father Abraham insisted that he study engineering. His mother, however, encouraged him to study the arts and sent him to Paris in 1909 without his fathers knowledge. Though he originally disapproved, Abraham eventually accepted the decision, but a few years later he developed tuberculosis and could no longer work to support Jacques’ endeavors. Lipchitz stated, "after I went to Paris, my father forgave me and as long as he was able to, he contributed to my support.” Abraham passed away in 1928, and though possibly harboring feelings of guilt due to leaving his family years earlier, Jacques stayed in Paris until 1940 when he fled to the United States during WWII. Return of the Prodigal Son was a gift of Mrs. R. C. Kemper Sr. through the R. C. Kemper Charitable Trust.Gallery Label Description <blockquote>“Jacques Lipchitz's Return of the Prodigal Son retains a disciplined angularity derived from his early investigation of Cubism. It dates, however, from a later phase in his career, when he was occupied with organic forms and themes related to the human condition. Return of the Prodigal Son was Lipchitz's first interpretation of a biblical subject.”</blockquote><h3>Untitled</h3>New York artist Joel Shapiro (1941- ) is known for exploring configuration in space, taking influence from both Minimalism and Modernism. He uses blocks of wood to create simple, geometrically figurative sculptures, often depicting the body in motion. His work ranges in scale and orientation, sometimes being suspended from the wall or ceiling, and uses a variety of colors. He stated, "I am interested in those moments when it appears that it is a figure and other moments when it looks like a bunch of wood stuck together—moments when it simultaneously configures and disfigures." One of many works named Untitled, Shapiro allows the viewer to interpret the movement based on their own thoughts and experiences, and perhaps to explore the movement with their own body without influence. He created the present, 6-and-a-half-foot sculpture in 1991 and cast it in bronze the following year. The first major outdoor exhibition of Shapiro’s bronze, Joel Shapiro: Outdoors, included this work and was co-exhibited by the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art with the Walker Art Center of Minneapolis in 1995-96. Untitled (1991) was purchased by the Hall Family Foundation in 1992 and gifted to The Nelson in 1999. Gallery Label Description <blockquote>“The simple, geometric forms of Joel Shapiro's sculpture suggest the human body in motion. Untitled appears from certain views to have two upraised arms and one leg extended, as though taking a bow or preparing to do a cartwheel. Its open forms activate the surrounding space and invite the viewer to strike a similar pose.”</blockquote>

This tour stop combines five works which are all situated in the courtyard at the southeast corner of the museum building. First, Peace on Earth by Jacques Lipchitz (1969) is a spiritual work inspired by the rediscovery of Judaism after the artist fled Paris during WWII. Just north a few feet, the next sculpture is The Large Bather by Pierre Auguste Renoir (1917-18), who played a critical role in French Impressionism as a painter but did not start sculpting until his last few years of life. Located on the museum’s south wall, Bas Relief Woman by Gaston Lachaise (1934) reveres the artist's wife, love of his life, and life-long muse, Isabel, as a strong and confident woman. Looking left, Return of the Prodigal Son is a second sculpture by Jacques Lipchitz (1931) which depicts an emotional embrace between two abstract figures. The final work in this courtyard is a minimalistic human form in motion, called Untitled by Joel Shapiro (1991).

Peace on Earth, The Large Bather, Bas-Relief Woman, Return of the Prodigal Son, and Untitled

After first studying fashion design, then graduating from Parsons in New York City with a BFA in 1975, Judith Shea (1948- ) quickly realized she wanted to be an artist. With an interest in the art of textile outside of fashion, she showed her first solo exhibit the following year, which applied color theory in the medium of transparent silk and worn by live models. Then in 1981, Shea presented in the Whitney Biennial showing forms like the iconic overcoat and sheath dress from the 1950-60s, the era of minimalism, which became a recurrent theme in her work. Those forms were displayed on the wall as if they were on hangers, but absent from the human body. In her early textile work, Shea “was looking for characters, for personae, really, to occupy them,” and “used clothes as stand-ins for people.” Later, she became intrigued with how clothing played a role in how a figure is portrayed and received grants from the National Endowment of the Arts to support endeavors in expanding her skills. She traveled to Paris where she studied garden statuary and also learned techniques of casting in bronze. These experiences led to the creation of life-size, seemingly-hollow figures into the 80s, where she began to evoke the expression of human form through the clothing. In the 90s, Shea started to embrace the complete human figure, brought in a new medium of wood, and worked on monumental public sculptures. More recently, she's revisited and expanded on her earlier works, while including new techniques and mediums, life experiences, and conveying powerful imagery of societal issues. Perhaps her most powerful work, “The Legacy Collection” was inspired by her eye-witness account of 9/11 and made up of a collection of paired, mannequin-like figures looking to the sky, draped in grey felt clothing and dusted with debris. Judith Shea has exhibited collections and private commissions around the world and has been recognized with numerous fellowships and awards. Gallery Label Description<blockquote>Judith Shea initially worked as a fashion designer. Later, she began making figurative sculptures, a radical idea in the avant-garde world of abstract art. Storage includes a hollow coat and dress, motifs that Shea uses frequently in her work. Shea stated, "They lean propped up against the wall essentially as if forgotten or stored. The truncated clothing forms provided an essence-no extremities, no movement; it was a way to express the essence of human presence."</blockquote>Storage was purchased from the artist by the Hall Family Foundation and gifted to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in 1999.

Created in 1999 by trained fashion designer and artist Judith Shea, Storage is a group of five bronze forms that reflect the artists interest in figuration and textiles. Her early work of flat, minimalistic clothing patterns developed into more figurative work, with molds of draped clothing in human form. Working in life-scale, the bodiless clothing takes on the shape of a human form, evoking presence through absence. The forms of Storage include a barefoot woman in a sheath dress and an empty overcoat, which have been a recurrent theme in Shea’s work since 1981, as well as a headless woman, a lower trunk, and a skirt on a geometric column.

Storage

The project, which included numerous workers over the five stages of the wall's movement, was funded by the Hall Family Foundation to honor Estelle and Morton Sosland, who commissioned the four Shuttlecocks in the sculpture garden that have grown to become Kansas City icons. From the perspective of museum staff and supporters, the Nelson-Atkins Museum was the perfect place to bring Goldsworthy's vision to life as the property had long been home to an extensive stone wall constructed for Oak Hall, the estate of William Rockhill Nelson, which was donated to support the creation of this museum.

Constructed, deconstructed, moved, and reconstructed again in five stages under the direction of artist Andy Goldsworthy, this wall of Flint Hills limestone "moved" from a five-acre parcel of land east of the Nelson-Atkins Museum to its current location in the Donald J. Hall Sculpture Park and Block Building between March 6th and December 5th, 2019. The herculean effort included a stage where Rockhill Road was blocked for several weeks as area residents watched the artist and his team of experienced wall builders carefully balanced each stone without the use of mortar. The process brought the artist's long-held dream inspired by the poem Wall by poet Norman Nicholson. Nicholson's poem ends with the lines: "They built a wall slowly, A day a week; Built it to stand, But not stand still. They built a wall to walk." Goldsworthy explained that he reflected on this poem in relation to a 1989 wall he built in Scotland and a second wall project in Cumbria, England that both featured community cooperation. The artist shared his idea of building and unbuilding a wall in phases for many years before receiving an invitation and funding to make this project a reality in Kansas City.

Walking Wall

The reclining figure is one of Henry Moore’s earliest and most often used forms throughout his career, comprising more than two-thirds of his 1,000-plus total sculptures. Two of his earliest forms were created in the late 1920s, Reclining Woman (1927) and Reclining Figure (1929), and were influenced by a cast of an Aztec Chacmool sculpture he saw at a Paris museum. Into the 30s, Moore started experimenting with surrealism and moved from an obvious human form toward more abstract, ambiguous forms. The sale of Reclining Figure (1939) in 1940 earned Moore enough money to buy the rural farmhouse Hoglands in Perry Green, Hertfordshire, England, where he spent the rest of his life. Into the 60s, Moore implemented even more abstraction in his work. Experimenting with the use of holes, shapes, and size, he used the natural elements of Hoglands as inspiration to create pieces that reflected and complimented the landscape, as he began to display his work outdoors. The original cast of Reclining Figure: Hand is on display in 2022 at Hoglands, which is now the location of the Henry Moore Foundation. Gallery Label for Reclining Figure: Hand (1979)<blockquote>“Henry Moore's sculptures reflect his affinity for natural forms such as rocks, bones, mountains and the human figure. In Reclining Figure: Hand he simplifies the form of a reclining female figure, allowing her sensuous curves to echo those of a landscape.</blockquote><blockquote>Moore preferred to see his work sited outdoors against the backdrop of sky and earth, in order to underscore its relationship to nature.”</blockquote>

Sculpted in 1979 by Henry Moore, Reclining Figure: Hand is one of hundreds of variations of the artist's most used forms. Here, the female figure’s arms and hands coalesce into the body of the form while the varying, curvaceous surface entices a tactile desire. Inspired much by the powerful and symbolic use by Rodin and Michelangelo, the hand has been emphasized throughout Moore’s career in both sculpture and drawing. Reclining Figure: Hand was a gift of the Hall Family Foundation.

Reclining Figure: Hand

Inspired by the shape of natural objects, Henry Moore would often collect miscellaneous findings from walks around his Hoglands estate, such as bones, flint and other stones, shells, and wood. He studied the composure and characteristics of the objects’ forms, as well as used them like tools to aid in shaping his molds. Moore describes his approach for this process: <blockquote>“I look at them, handle them, see them from all round, and I may press them into clay and pour plaster into that clay and get a start as a bit of plaster, which is a reproduction of the object. And then add to it, change it. In that sort of way something turns out in the end that you could never have thought of the day before.”</blockquote>Three-Way Piece No. 1: Points was inspired by “a pebble fragment with three points touching the ground” and the maquette was created using this technique. After the three-and-a-half inch maquette was complete, Moore used the form as the prototype for a larger piece, Working Model for Three-Way Piece No. 1: Points. He systematically measured the surface and points to calculate the proportion correctly to scale up in size, before building a wooden armature that would be used to create the plaster mold. This 25 inch plaster form then served as the model for Three-Way Piece No. 1: Points, which measures 6 feet and 4 inches tall. The sculpture at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art is the original cast (0/3) of an edition of 3 others in 1964-65. Moore started increasing the size of his pieces in the 1960s, when he also experimented with the placement of holes and angles to achieve multiple viewpoints. He explains Three-Way Piece No. 1: Points was “an attempt to show one work from below as well as from on top and from the side. My idea was to make a new kind of sculpture, less dependent on gravity, which could be seen in at least three positions and be effective in all of them; a sculpture which you could understand more completely because you know it better. This worked in the maquette, but I made the finished bronze sculpture too large and heavy to be turned over by one person. We all make mistakes.” Three-Way Piece No. 1: Points was gifted to The Nelson by the Hall Family Foundation. <blockquote>Gallery Label </blockquote><blockquote>“Three-Way Piece No. 1: Points is named for the bulging forms that make up the mass of the sculpture and the three tapering points that support it. An abstract sculpture, it was inspired by the artist's abiding interest in stones and bones. Here, textural surfaces and colors alternate, ranging from smooth to deeply gouged, and from golden to rich brown.”</blockquote>

World renowned artist Henry Moore first concepted the six-foot bronze sculpture Three-Way Piece No. 1: Points in a three-inch plaster maquette. With much of Moore's creative influence stemming from a collection of natural objects found on the grounds of his estate in Hertfordshire, England, a pointed pebble fragment was the inspiration for Three-Way Piece No. 1: Points. Cast in 1964-65, the smooth, bulbous shape takes on an organic, biomorphic form while sharp edges and protrusions create asymmetry, provoking a tactile experience. In addition, Moore intentionally sculpted the form so that it could be rotated while on display to encourage multiple viewpoints, but the final piece was too large and heavy so it was placed resting on its three points.

Three Way Piece No. 1: Points

Comprising two-thirds of his work, the reclining figure is one of Henry Moore’s most used forms as he was largely interested in the characteristics and movement of the human body. Until the 60s he typically sculpted these figures as one piece, in which he then started to experiment with size and abstraction, including dividing his forms into two and three piece compositions to create both juxtaposition and interdependence of space and proportion. However, Moore admitted that he unintentionally created a number of smaller, multi-piece abstract sculptures as early as 1934, which he kept in the back of his mind for some time. In a later reflection he stated, “I realized what an advantage a separated, two-piece composition could have … Once these two parts become separated, you don’t expect it to be a naturalistic figure.” One of the first modern sculptures acquired for their personal home collection, Two Piece Reclining Figure No. 9 (cast 3/ed. 7) was originally owned by Patsy and Raymond Nasher, avid art enthusiasts from Dallas. The work was later obtained by the Hall Family Foundation and gifted to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. Gallery Label <blockquote>Henry Moore made a number of figural sculptures based on the combination of two separate components as in Two-Piece Reclining Figure No. 9. He believed that two-part compositions suggested new ways of relating the figure to the landscape: "Once these two parts become separated, you don't expect it to be a naturalistic figure; therefore, you can more justifiably make it like a landscape or a rock. If it is in two pieces, there's a bigger surprise, you have more unexpected views." Two-Piece Reclining Figure No. 9 offers the unexpected juxtaposition of undulating, swelling forms in contrast to planar surfaces.</blockquote>

The juxtaposition of the two figural shapes in this bronze sculpture creates the appearance of a reclining human figure, a common form seen in Henry Moore's work. Created in 1968, Two Piece Reclining Figure No. 9 was the ninth of this two-piece series but the first in which the two pieces are touching. The eight-foot long sculpture retains the form of Moore’s typical reclining figure as the two separate pieces come together to form one entity, yet offer opposing characteristics. Likely inspired by a bone fragment from his studio, the vertical, upper body is curvaceous and smooth, while the horizontal leg piece is more rigid with fine lines that give the form texture.

Two Piece Reclining Figure No. 9

Best known as a pioneer for modern sculpture, Henry Moore (1989-1986) showed a talent in art as early as age 3. After serving for the British Army in World War I, he received an ex-servicemen's grant and quickly enrolled in the Leeds School of Art in the United Kingdom. He completed a two-year drawing course in one year before transferring to the prestigious Royal College of Art in London to study sculpture. While in London, Moore would often visit the British Museum and developed an interest in non-Western art. He became fascinated by cultural art from around the world, particularly Mexican, African, Oceanic, Peruvian and pre-Columbian art, as they differed greatly from the traditional Western art he was being taught to replicate at Royal College. After graduating, Moore was granted a six-month travel scholarship to study the Old Masters in Italy. Upon his return to London, he went through a period of misery due to the conflicting ideals of his earlier interests and his recent re-exposure to European art. He later described his experience, “I was never more miserable in my life. Six months exposure to the master works of European art which I saw on my trip had stirred up a violent conflict with my previous ideals ... I found myself helpless and unable to work.” He then returned to the ancient Mexican exhibit at the British Museum to become re-inspired. Commonly associating much of his work with the female form, some of Moore’s earliest works, in the 1920s, also often took on influence from traditions of non-Western cultures. This can be seen in the form of fertility, simplified animal forms, and masks, as well as the Chacmool which inspired his most commonly used form of the reclining figure. The series of Upright Motives did not take shape until the mid-1950s. During a visit to Mexico in 1953, Moore visited carved stone ruins and was captivated, in particular, by a sixteen century stone cross. The following year, Moore created six upright maquettes for a contest for the facade of the English Electric Company Headquarters in London. He was then commissioned for sculptures for the courtyard of the new Olivetti building in Milan, where he created a series of upright forms to contrast the low, one-story building. While he did not secure either of the commissions, he wanted a change from his common reclining figure form and used the idea of the vertical sculptures in his work that followed. From 1955 to 1956, Moore created a series of 13 maquettes, called Upright Motives; five of which were enlarged to full size (numbers 1, 2, 5, 7, and 8) while the others were created in subsequent years. Gallery Label <blockquote>Upright Motive No. 9 represents an abstract human form emerging from a kind of pedestal. Henry Moore acknowledged that this form was inspired by the verticality of trees and Northwest Coast American Indian totem poles. Sculptors of Moore's generation were greatly influenced by the art of ancient and indigenous peoples, and Upright Motive No. 9 alludes to a millennium-long tradition of monolithic forms. The columnar form also refers to herms, the sculpted stone figures in Renaissance, Baroque and Rococo formal gardens.</blockquote>A plaque near this piece serves as a reminder that this sculpture garden was named in honor of Henry Moore in 1989, as the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art has one of the largest collections of Moore’s work in the world. Moore himself visited Kansas City in 1976 and consulted on placement for the city’s newly acquired sculpture, Sheep Piece, in which he rejected the original location, then was subsequently installed at The Nelson. In 2014, the garden was renamed to honor Donald J. Hall Sr., philanthropist and then-Chair of the Hall Family Foundation, who gifted Nelson-Atkins their 84-piece sculpture collection the same year.

Created in 1979 by Henry Moore, Upright Motive No. 9 depicts an abstract female figure and resembles a Native American totem pole. The series of Upright Motives was first concepted in the mid-1950s and took influence from the British sculptor’s admiration for non-Western art. Often documenting his work and ideals, Moore acknowledged in an early journal that he must “Keep ever prominent the world tradition; the big view of sculpture,” as he experienced conflicting ideals with the traditional European art he had studied at Royal College and other cultural art he viewed on exhibit at the British Museum. Much of Moore’s work took on characteristics of ancient and indigenous art forms, including his most common form of the Reclining Figure. Upright No. 9 was a gift of the Hall Family Foundation.

Upright Motive No. 9

Throughout his life, Henry Moore (1898-1986) was fascinated with studying and understanding the human figure, particularly the female form. Much of Moore’s work fits the archetype of the “Great Mother,” symbolizing fertility, nurture, and security, as he acquired a sense of stability and protection from his own mother. He modeled many of his figures after the form of a mature woman and describes their robustness as strength, not representing body size. The curvaceous, nude female figure can be traced back to some of his earliest drawings in the 1920s, which drew inspiration from French artist Paul Cézanne’s painting Bathers. In the mid-1950s to early-60s, Moore sculpted a large series of seated women, some with realistic features and some abstract. The series was inspired after his commission for the headquarters of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in Paris. Moore produced several drawings in consideration of form and arrangement for the work, but during this period he was starting to produce small, three-dimensional models called maquettes, which allowed him to work “in the round” and easily scale up in size. He created eleven maquettes of varying figures between 1955 and 1956, including single female forms and groups of figures. This work for UNESCO resulted in his largest Reclining Figure yet and inspired the series of the Seated Woman, which was created in the years directly following. This particular model of Seated Woman (LH440) was created in 1958-59 but not cast until 1975. The figure’s small head is alert and emphasizes the voluminous body. During the creation of the maquette, the shape of the upper body was formed by smashing wet plaster in his hands. Once the form was enlarged, a trowel was used to achieve the deep texture of the surface and is reminiscent of Moore’s childhood memory of massaging his mothers back as she suffered from rheumatism. In one recollection Moore stated, “She had a strong, solid figure, and I remember, as I massaged her with some embarrassment, the sensation it gave me going across her shoulder blades and then down and across the backbone. I had the sense of an expanse of flatness yet within it a hard projection of bone. My mother’s back meant a lot to me.” Gallery Label <blockquote>By the late 1950s, Henry Moore had begun to move away from literal depictions of the female figure to more abstract representations as seen in Seated Woman. Robust and fecund, this sculpture recalls smaller scale depictions of earth mother goddesses from prehistoric times. Seated Woman's rich, textural surface records Moore's process, documenting the way he applied wet plaster with a trowel to create the original sculpture, from which this bronze work was cast.</blockquote>Seated Woman was a gift of the Hall Family Foundation.

Part of a larger series, Seated Woman was created by Henry Moore between 1958 and 1959 but not cast in bronze until 1975. Often conveying the archetype of the “Great Mother” and using a mature female form, Moore describes his robust figures as a symbol of strength. This Seated Woman has recognizable but disfigured human qualities and is a rather simplified, cubist form with a flat back, small head, blunted appendages, and a bulbous skirt. The surface texture was created using a trowel on the wet plaster, reminiscent of the strokes Moore used to massage his mothers back as she suffered from rheumatism.

Seated Woman

The green space south of the Nelson-Atkins sculpture garden was part of the vast estate of newspaper publisher William Rockhill Nelson at the turn of the century. Now a public park named in honor of Kansas City grain merchant Frank A. Theis, this vast green space was part of a planned civic improvement plan in the mid-20th century that would create an outdoor space that combined the art museums to the north with the University of Kansas City (now UMKC) and other leading institutions that form the Plaza District and midtown area. Theis was a leader of several civic groups and served as the president of Kansas City's Board of Park Commissioners from 1952 to 1965. The park included featured a fountain that honored one of the city's leading philanthropists, William Volker, until that fountain was moved just south of Brush Creek.

Theis Park

One of many labyrinths created by acclaimed American artist Robert Morris, Glass Labyrinth was the first to be permanently installed in the United States. Morris first worked with the idea of a labyrinth in 1961 when he created an 8-foot high, curved passageway, later describing it as a key work of “the body being in a space; exploring a space, having a relationship to a space.” He went on to say that it was “not necessarily one that you perceived the whole of, it was something you explored with your body.” The Glass Labyrinth’s months-long installation was completed on May 22, 2014 and continues to provide an interactive experience for visitors of the Donald J. Hall Sculpture Park. With a single continuous path to the center and one way in and out, Glass Labyrinth is a true labyrinth. While the path doesn’t provide the visitor a choice in direction, it allows each individual to have a personal experience with the work. The 1-inch thick glass was hand-picked for its durability and clarity, which creates an illusion of deception as one can see completely through the 7-foot tall walls, though confined. The work was also created to be viewed from above, which gives a different perspective and dynamic than up close. Morris explains, “There’s so much going, but from a distance it’s just glass … You don’t seem to process so much until you get close to it, and then all these things start going on.” A team of both local and national architects and engineers prepared the 1,250 square foot site for installation and more than 80 individuals helped to construct Glass Labyrinth. The work was made possible through the generosity of the Hall Family Foundation. Gallery Label Description<blockquote>This sculpture is a true labyrinth with one single path. Visitors walk from the entrance to the center and must retrace their steps to the exit. Labyrinths are found throughout history—in prehistoric cave drawings, ancient Greek mythology and in the stone floors of French cathedrals to guide meditative walking.</blockquote><blockquote>Contemporary in form and material, Glass Labyrinth was created by Kansas City native and acclaimed artist Robert Morris. As you move through its potentially disorienting environment, we invite you to consider: is your experience a metaphor for negotiating the uncertainties of our time?</blockquote>Robert Morris (1931-2018) was a central figure in Minimalism, Process Art, and Earthworks sculpture, and was also a performance artist, writer, and painter. Early in his career, Morris choreographed numerous works for the Judson Dance Theater in New York and wrote a master thesis on Brancusi, as well as other critical essays. Interestingly, his first minimalist works were props for dance sets. Throughout his career, Morris used a variety of mediums and techniques for his work, starting with industrial materials and geometric shapes while sculpting in Minimalism, then moving to softer materials where he challenged ordinary objects to experiment with Process Art. That transitioned into using unconventional materials for indoor installations and later started creating monumental outdoor Earthworks. Some of Morris’s work has ironically been criticized for its theatricality, however, his legacy lives on through the engagement of his pieces and their viewers.

Kansas City native and pioneer in Minimalism, Robert Morris was commissioned to create this interactive work for the 25th anniversary of the Donald J. Hall Sculpture Park. Installed in 2014, Glass Labyrinth is a 62-foot long glass-walled, triangle labyrinth that allows visitors to experience the artwork from both inside and out. The walls are composed of 1-inch thick glass that is capped in a bronze rail, weighing in at 400 tons and resting on a base made of blue stone pavers. As a true labyrinth, a single continuous path leads to the center, in which the explorer must turn around and return to the starting point to exit. Throughout his career, Morris created art that allowed viewers to question, explore, and have a relationship with his work.

Glass Labyrinth

Owned by the Kansas City Board of Parks and Recreation Commissioners since 1974, Sheep Piece was acquired using money bequeathed by N. Clyde Degginger, a Kansas farmer and general store manager. After his death in 1967, Mr. Degginger’s will revealed a donation of $300,000 to the city of Kansas City for the purchase of a bronze statue. A member of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art visited Hertfordshire to scout artwork, the village where English sculptor Henry Moore lived. Sheep Piece arrived in Kansas City in June 1975 but was placed in a warehouse during deliberations of where to place the work. During a brief visit in April 1976, the original site was rejected by Moore himself, in which he requested an open air setting. It was installed on the grounds of The Nelson on May 8, 1976. World renowned British artist Henry Moore (1898-1986) showed artistic talent as early as age 3 and became a pioneer for Modernism in sculpture. He is known for his abstract reclining figures and use of the female form. One of his common motifs of mother and child was an inspiration for Sheep Piece, as were the grazing sheep he overlooked from his maquette studio, which was converted from an outbuilding at his estate of Hoglands in Hertfordshire, England. Moore once stated, “… the lambing season had begun, and there in front of me was the mother-and-child theme.” Typically using human forms in his work, and occasionally animals, Moore concepted his designs through the personality or characteristics of the being. The silhouette and placement of the figures in Sheep Piece are rounded and fluid, conveying a sense of fruitfulness and a gentle dynamic. Moore describes them as, “One is solid and passive, resting firmly on the ground and strongly resistant - the other form, slightly larger and more active and powerful, but yet it leans on the lower form, needing it for support.” He first created two smaller maquettes before sculpting the present 19-by-13-foot piece in 1971-72. It was designed to complement the landscape on his farmhouse estate where the original cast is still sited today, now the location of the Henry Moore Foundation.

While gazing out the studio window at his rural estate Hoglands, Henry Moore became roused by nearby grazing sheep. Inspired by the strength and protection of his own mother, Moore commonly used the concept of mother and child, as seen in Sheep Piece. He began drawing the sheep during lambing season, designing the sculpture with two ambiguous forms gently touching. Though they are large and boulder-like, the closeness of the figures evoke an affinity, perhaps leaning on one another for support. Moore used the rolling landscape at Hoglands to display his sculptures and lived there until his death. The estate is now home to the Henry Moore Foundation and many of Moore's sculptures, including the original cast of Sheep Piece as it remains where he originally sited it with grazing sheep roaming about. One of only three casts (1971-72), this sculpture at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art is on loan from the Kansas City Board of Parks and Recreation Commissioners.

Sheep Piece

New York artist Roxy Paine (1966- ) attended Pratt Institute and worked at a fabrication shop in Brooklyn, New York before he started exhibiting his art there in 1990. Two years later he opened his own studio in Treadwell, New York and now has collections around the world. Paine developed an early interest in human impulse creating control over the forces of nature and often uses materials and methods that are considered unpleasant by many. Industry and natural objects became a vital part of his early work, like creating replicas of hallucinogenic plants and machines that produced questionable objects. In the early 2000s his ideals evolved into the collapse of industry on nature as seen in his dendroids, structures having branch-like features, which developed further into an interest in the structure of the brain and nervous systems. He says, “calling them [dendroids] trees, is selling it short.” Commissioned in 2009 by the Hall Family Foundation, Roxy Paine was chosen by Martin Friedman, a long-time art consultant for the foundation and sculpture park, to create a piece in honor of his retirement. Friedman was an admirer of Paine for some time and described his work as, “elegance and force and power in the sculpture; they play beautifully together and against each other.” Influenced by the material’s industrial use, Paine often uses stainless steel for his sculptures. Taking two years to construct, pieces of cylindrical pipe and rods were cut, welded together, and grinded smooth to create this 56-foot tall dendroid, called Ferment. The installation of Ferment was led by the McCownGordon construction firm. First, nine rock anchors were drilled 30 feet into the bedrock and 36,000 pounds of concrete was poured to construct a foundation that could support the 9-ton sculpture. In addition, roads and pads had to be built in order to get the sculpture to its chosen location, on the top of the hillside of the south lawn. Due to its size, Ferment was transported from New York in several pieces. The installation itself took more than two weeks to complete, from April 9th to 28th, as the steel pieces were lifted by cranes and welded together on site. Coinciding with the installation of Ferment on the south lawn, Paine was featured in a solo exhibition inside the Bloch Lobby called Roxy Paine: Scumaks and Dendroids. For the exhibition, two models of his dendroids were on display alongside the Scumak, short for sculpture maker, which actively produced plastic sculptures for five months. More than 40 small, Scumak sculptures were created, three of which were donated to The Nelson following the exhibition. Gallery Label Description<blockquote>Rising 56 feet into the air with a branching system that spans 35 feet, Roxy Paine's silvery sculpture, Ferment, acknowledges the power of human imagination and technological innovation. At the same time, its organic, tree-like form speaks profoundly to the dendritic (branching) structures of nature-from our bodies (torso, arms, hands, fingers) to vascular and neurological systems to river deltas and erosion patterns to botanical branching. Ferment, one of more than 20 dendroid sculptures by Paine, investigates this complex interrelationship between nature and technology.</blockquote><blockquote></blockquote><blockquote>"Ferment" is defined as a state of agitation or turbulent change. With its twisting, gnarled branches, Paine's sculpture embodies the surging energy of creation, growth, transformation, decay and regeneration.</blockquote>

Weighing in at 9 tons, Roxy Paine’s Ferment took more than two weeks to install at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. The 56-foot tall, stainless steel sculpture was created in Paine’s New York studio using cylindrical pipes and rods, then delivered in pieces and welded together on site. Taking from the literal definition of ferment, Paine tried to “create a churning, swirling force” within the 35-foot span of branches. Classified as a dendroid, the polished, twisted branches of Ferment capture the juxtaposition of industry and nature, instigating thought amongst its viewers. A gift of the Hall Family Foundation in honor of art consultant Martin Friedman’s retirement, Ferment was installed in April 2011.

Ferment

Best known for his abstract reclining figures and Shelter Drawings, English artist Henry Moore (1898-1986) was a pioneer for Modernism in sculpture and one of the most recognized British sculptors of the twentieth century. Moore showed a talent for drawing early on and at age 11 decided he wanted to become a sculptor after learning about Michelangelo. He received an ex-servicemen's grant after serving in the British Army during WWI, and quickly enrolled in the Leeds School of Art. There, he completed a two-year drawing program in one year before transferring to the prestigious Royal College of Art in London where he studied sculpture. Moore became fascinated with the human form based on his admiration of Rodin’s belief that the body was the basis for all sculpture. He developed an abstract style of sculpting early on, often using the female form which was inspired by the sense of stability and protection of his mother, also commonly seen through his mother-child theme. By 1931, Moore began gaining a reputation as an Avant-garde, however, there were conflicting opinions and criticism of his unconventional aesthetic. In 1940, Moore moved from London to Perry Green, Hertfordshire with his wife Irina, where they rented half of a rural farmhouse called Hoglands. Soon after, the sale of Reclining Figure (1939) earned enough money to buy the property outright, and they remained there for the rest of their lives. Reclining Figure would go on to be one of Moore’s most notable signature forms. He converted the outbuildings at Hoglands into art studios but the war limited supplies for sculpting, so he started drawing again. Often traveling back to the city using the London Underground rail system, Moore was moved by the huddling crowds sheltering in the tunnels from air raids during The Blitz - their resting silhouettes and intimate protection for one another were reminiscent of his previous work. He was then recruited as an official war artist and produced a commiserating series of drawings which would become one of his most superlative accomplishments, known as Shelter Drawings. After the war, Moore returned to sculpture. He started exploring the relationship between the human form and nature that was inspired by the rolling landscape surrounding Hoglands, and the birth of his daughter in 1946 reignited the mother-child theme in his work. That same year was his first international retrospective and in 1948, he won the International Sculpture Prize at the 24th Venice Biennial for representing the optimistic, humanist values embodied in modernism. The following decades brought new materials, heightened creativity and abstraction, increased size, and global demand. During the 60s alone, Moore produced over 200 sculptures, including the six-and-a-half-foot tall Large Torso: Arch.Throughout his six decade-long career, Moore created nearly 5,500 drawings, 700 graphics, and more than 1,000 sculptures in a variety of mediums. His legacy is carried on in museums and public spaces around the globe, and through the work of the Henry Moore Foundation, established by Moore in 1977. Gallery Label for Large Torso: Arch<blockquote>“Henry Moore said, "It is no longer necessary to close down and restrict sculpture to the single, static unit." In Large Torso: Arch, which frames a view of nature, it is space that opens and activates the form. The single arch is an unusual motif within Moore's oeuvre. It fuses organic, biomorphic form with one of the oldest architectural motifs, the arch.”</blockquote>

Cast in 1963, Large Torso: Arch by Henry Moore depicts a hollow, skeletal structure in the form of an arch. Moore created the silhouette based on the bone structure of the tensed shoulders of a male torso, and the work's monumental size and overall shape seem to echo Stonehenge, a formation for which Moore had a special appreciation. Though his signature motifs are that of mother and child and reclining figures, the concept of Large Torso: Arch can be seen in Moore's work as early as 1932 through his drawing Ideas for Sculpture: Transformation of Bones. From an early age, Moore was inspired by Rodin’s “complete understanding of the body’s internal structure” and became fascinated with the human figure. After moving to a rural farmhouse in 1940, Moore began to explore the analogies between the body and landscape, later creating his larger sculptures to be displayed outdoors. This bronze is one of seven editions by Moore and was gifted by the Hall Family Foundation.

Large Torso: Arch

English artist Henry Moore (1898-1986) was a pioneer for Modernism in sculpture and is one of the most recognized British sculptors of the twentieth century, best known for his abstract figures and Shelter Drawings. Moore showed a talent for drawing early on and at age 11 decided he wanted to become a sculptor after learning about Michelangelo. He served in the British Army in World War I and after the Armistice, received an ex-servicemen grant, then quickly enrolling in the Leeds School of Art. There, he completed a two-year drawing program in one year before transferring to the prestigious Royal College of Art in London where he studied sculpture. He was the only full time student in his program. Moore developed an abstract style of sculpting early on, often using the female form which was inspired by the sense of stability and protection of his mother. He rented his first studio space in 1924 and with advice from his parents, accepted a teaching position at Royal College. He showed in his first solo exhibition in 1928 which featured 42 sculptures and 51 drawings, and received his first public commission the same year. He began gaining a reputation as an Avant-garde, however, there were conflicting opinions of his unconventional aesthetic. In 1931, after receiving vicious criticism about teaching these new methods, he resigned from Royal College and became Head of the new Sculpture Department at Chelsea School of Art, until 1939. With the onset of the war, in 1940 Moore moved from London to Perry Green, Hertfordshire with his wife Irina, where they rented half of a rural farmhouse called Hoglands. Soon after, Moore sold a sculpture called Reclining Figure (1939) which earned enough money to buy the property outright, remaining there for the rest of their lives. Varying forms of Reclining Figure would go on to be one of Moore’s most notable forms. He converted the outbuildings at Hoglands into art studios but the war limited supplies for sculpting, so he started drawing again. Often traveling back to the city using the London Underground rail system, Moore was moved by the huddling crowds sheltering in the tunnels from air raids during The Blitz - their resting silhouettes and intimate protection for one another were reminiscent of his previous work. He was then recruited as an official war artist and produced a commiserating series of drawings which would become one of his most superlative accomplishments, known as Shelter Drawings. After the war, Moore returned to sculpture. He started exploring the relationship between the human form and nature, inspired by the rolling landscape surrounding Hoglands. His daughter was born in 1946, which reignited the mother-child theme in his work. That same year was his first international retrospective and in 1948, he won the International Sculpture Prize at the 24th Venice Biennial for representing the optimistic, humanist values embodied in modernism. <blockquote>“Of course an artist uses experiences he's had in life. Such an experience in my life was the birth of my daughter Mary, which re-invoked in my sculpture my Mother and Child theme. A new experience can bring to the surface something deep in one's mind.”</blockquote>The following decades brought international success with multiple commissions, exhibitions, and retrospectives. Throughout his six decade career, Moore created nearly 5,500 drawings, 700 graphics, and more than 1,000 sculptures in a variety of mediums. His legacy is carried on in museums and public spaces around the globe, and through the work of the Henry Moore Foundation, established by Moore in 1977.

Best known for his abstract variations of Reclining Figure, English artist Henry Moore created this bronze sculpture in 1969. The sixth in an edition of nine, Reclining Connected Forms offers a balance of positive and negative space as the outer form embraces the interior form. The work is reminiscent of his signature motif of mother and child, though the title lends the piece to a variety of interpretations. During the time this piece was concepted, Moore was experimenting with the placement of openings, allowing viewers to experience the pieces from multiple angles while also letting light cast through. Working in a variety of mediums, Moore created more than 1,000 sculptures throughout his career, as well as a multitude of drawings and other graphics. Reclining Connected Forms was gifted from the Hall Family Foundation and is one of many Henry Moore sculptures at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.

Reclining Connected Forms

Ursula von Rydingsvard was born on July 26, 1942 in Germany, where her father was a forced-labor farmer for the Nazi’s during World War II. After the war was over, her family spent five years in refugee camps before coming to America in December 1950 and settling in Connecticut. With a long family history of Polish peasant farmers, Von Rydingsvard never understood life outside of blue-collar work and didn’t realize the potential of becoming an artist until she came to New York in her 30’s. In 1975 she earned a Master’s degree in Fine Art from Columbia University and received the Fulbright-Hays Travel Grant, and quickly started sculpting for both solo and group exhibitions. After first studying welding, von Rydingsvard then discovered the natural beauty of wood in ways in which she could manipulate the shape and texture to evoke emotion. She uses memories of her childhood and tributes to her Polish ancestry, which gives her a sense of will, inspiration, and desire to work with her hands. Wood in particular is familiar to her as she recounts the years she spent in refugee camps, where everything was made of wood:<blockquote>“We stayed in wooden barracks, rough wooden floors, rough wooden walls and rough wooden ceilings.”</blockquote>The majority of von Rydingsvard’s work uses 4-by-4 wood beams and created with ideas solely in her head. Rather than sketching her designs, she marks lines directly onto the wood, cuts them into pieces, and shapes them with a circular saw before adhering them together. The scale of her work, in using thousands of individual pieces to create a monumental work of art, gives her countless opportunities to make the shapes complex. Through careful decisions and detail, her goal is ultimately to embrace the body and psyche. As one of the only women who sculpt on such a monumental scale, Ursula von Rydingsvard has had her work displayed world-wide and has received countless awards and honors throughout her life. Some of her most notable honors include the Lifetime Achievement Award by the International Sculpture Center in New Jersey (2014), the Lifetime Achievement Award for Excellence in the Arts by the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington D.C. (2019), and the Gold Medal for Merit to Culture, Gloria Artis, Ministry of Culture, National Heritage, and Sport in Warsaw, Poland (2021). Three Bowls was first commissioned for the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota and completed in 1990, then exhibited there until 1997. It then moved to Yorkshire Sculpture Park in the United Kingdom for a solo exhibit in August 1997 until March 1998, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City from May 1998 to March 1999, then the Indianapolis Museum of Art from May 1999 to April 2000. It was purchased in 1999 by the William Rockhill Nelson Trust for the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art through the generosity of the Hall Family Foundation, the George H. and Elizabeth O. Davis Fund, G. Kenneth Baum, and Judy and Alan Kosloff.Gallery Label for Three Bowls <blockquote>“Ursula von Rydingsvard sculpts intuitively and without drawings or models to guide her process. She creates each sculpture directly from a mental image that evolves as she works. The roughly hewn, steeply vertical surfaces of Three Bowls bring to mind weathered, rocky cliffs. Von Rydingsvard reinforces this impression by saturating the wood with Black graphite, which silvers as it ages. The artist stated, "I am drawn to that part of the world where manmade walls erode in a way where there is no longer a strict line between that which man has made and that which nature has made.”</blockquote>

German-born American artist Ursula von Rydingsvard created Three Bowls in 1990, using 4-by-4 cedar beams. Rather than sketching her designs, von Rydingsvard cuts the individual beams freehand with a circular saw then stacks and glues the pieces together, creating an irregular, organic quality. She then adds a mixture of graphite and linseed oil after assembly, then lightly scrubs the surface with steel wool to achieve a distressed texture and unique finish while also protecting the wood. The monolithic presence and utilitarian nature of the interlocking sculptures of Three Bowls is perhaps a connection to the ancestral history of von Rydingsvard’s family of Polish farmers, in which she often uses as inspiration for her work. Three Bowls was purchased by the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in 1999 from Galerie Lelong in New York.

Three Bowls

Sculpted by British artist Tony Cragg, Turbo and Ferryman were both fabricated by the Schmäke foundry in Düsseldorf, Germany. These two abstract bronze pieces were first exhibited together in 1999 at the Royal Academy of Arts in London, England. The following year they made their U.S. debut in an exhibit by Public Art Fund at Central Park’s Doris Freedman Plaza in New York City, shown from May 2000 to February 2002. Tony Cragg (1949- ) is a world-renowned, contemporary sculptor born in Liverpool, United Kingdom. He studied the arts in London, earning a Bachelor degree from the Wimbledon School of Art in 1973 and a Masters degree from the Royal College of Art in 1977. He met his first wife while at Royal College and moved to her hometown of Wuppertal, Germany after graduation, where he has continued to live and work since. In addition to sculpting, Cragg has been a professor, most notably at Kunstakademie Düsseldorf academy of fine art in Germany, where he also served as Director. Featured in numerous solo and group exhibitions in addition to public commissions, Cragg’s work has been displayed worldwide throughout Europe, Asia, and the United States, as well as in Brazil, Australia, and Cuba. Interested in the emotional quality of things, he uses an array of materials and objects for both their physical quality and as inspiration. His work is characterized into two categories: Early Forms and Rational Beings. Early Forms repurpose familiar objects into abstract forms that evoke a new meaning or emotional response, while Rational Beings challenge the relationship of contrasting aesthetic interpretations; Turbo and Ferryman fit the latter. <blockquote>Gallery label for Turbo</blockquote><blockquote>Turbo refers to an energy-generating form like a spinning top or a turbine engine. Tony Cragg explores the tilted form at rest, but its impression is one of intense dynamism. While Turbo is cast in bronze, lending it a machined quality, its form is irregular, as if comprised of discs whirling out of phase. This idiosyncratic play between randomness and logical order characterizes much of Cragg's work.</blockquote><blockquote>Gallery label for Ferryman </blockquote><blockquote>Tony Cragg is one of Great Britain's most esteemed artists. His sculpture, Ferryman, may refer to the operator of a ferry boat, to the fluid "body" of water or to the molecular structure of matter itself. Its amorphous form extrudes and wraps in upon itself in an endless flow of energy to create a playful dialogue between interior and exterior spaces.</blockquote>Cragg’s unique interpretation of the material world into abstract sculpture has earned him international recognition over the years. He has been a recipient of many awards including the esteemed Praemium Imperiale Award in Tokyo (2007) and the Lifetime Achievement in Contemporary Sculpture Award from the International Sculpture Center (2017), amongst many others. He has been awarded the 1st Class Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (2012) and is also a member of the British honours system as a Knight Bachelor (2016).

Exhibited together, Turbo and Ferryman are two bronze works by world-renowned, contemporary sculptor Tony Cragg. Using sculpture to evoke emotion, Cragg challenges peoples’ relationships with the material world. Turbo is an irregular-shaped spherical form that rests on a tilted axis. The 5 and a half foot figure creates a sense of motion with what appears to be multiple rounded disks of a turbine engine whirling out of phase, creating two top-like shapes joined together at the center. Ferryman is an 8 foot by 5 foot biomorphic structure with several appendage-like forms. Its monumental size contradicts the gentle appearance of its perforated material. Through the generosity of the Hall Family Foundation, the sculptures were purchased in 2001 by the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art from the Marian Goodman Gallery in New York.

Turbo and Ferryman

The whimsical, seven-legged form of Tom’s Cubicle illustrates Calder's humor and his fascination with the animal form. The Black painted steel plates are constructed with nuts and bolts and stands 10 feet by 12 feet by 7 feet. It was exhibited in the fifth biennial Guggenheim International Exhibition called Sculpture from Twenty Nations, which traveled from New York to Canada. Starting at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York in October 1967 to February 1968, it then went on to the Art Gallery of Ontario from February to March 1968, the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa from April to May 1968, and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts from June to August 1968. The sculpture was owned by the Perls Galleries in New York and purchased by Friends of Art in Kansas City in 1969. That same year, it was gifted to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.Alexander Calder (1898-1976) was a third generation sculptor born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His mother was also an artist, a portrait painter, and the Calder’s often traveled the country to follow their commissions. Alexander was encouraged to create from a young age and no matter their location, always found space for his own workshop. His first sculptures were of a tiny dog and kinetic duck cut and formed from a sheet of brass in 1909. Calder graduated from Stevens Institute of Technology in Engineering in 1919 and worked many trade jobs before committing his life to art. In 1923, Calder moved to New York and enrolled in the Art Students League. He became an illustrator for the National Police Gazette and in 1925 was sent to sketch scenes from the Ringling Bros. and Barnum &amp; Bailey Circus, where he developed a lifelong interest in the circus in both form and movement. He moved to Paris in 1926 and created his first work, Cirque Calder, a multi-piece assortment of performers, animals, and props made of wire and an array of other material. Calder manually manipulated the set of small figures in elaborate, two-hour performances. With much accolade, this work led to sculpting wire portraits of friends and public figures, earning his first solo gallery show in New York in 1928, and later in Paris and Berlin. Calder began making Abstract forms in 1930 after being inspired by the work of Parisian artist Piet Mondrian. The following year he created his first, truly-kinetic work in a wire “mobile”. After moving back to the states in 1933, to a farmhouse in Roxbury, Connecticut. He transformed their icehouse into a studio and started creating large-scale outdoor pieces. His first large “stabile” sculpture was called Devil Fish in 1937 and shortly thereafter, Calder was commissioned for a piece in the Spanish Pavilion at the 1937 World Fair in Paris. With the exception of using wood during and after World War II due to metal shortage, he continued making monumental metal sculptures throughout his life. Alexander Calder has had countless exhibitions and collections featured around the world, in multiple locations throughout North and South America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. In Kansas City, several of his paintings and a mobile have been exhibited at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, as well as a large metal abstract sculpture titled Shiva (1965), currently installed at the Crown Center shopping center.

Created by internationally renowned and third generation sculptor Alexander Calder, Tom’s Cubicle is named after Tom Messer, who was the Director of New York's Guggenheim Museum at the time of the sculpture’s international exhibition in 1967. It is a large, whimsical piece of work constructed of painted steel plates fastened together with nuts and bolts. Calder is best known for his work using motion and movement, as well as his monumental, abstractly engineered sculptures, deemed as mobile’s and stabile’s respectively. Throughout his life, he has also worked with wood and smaller metal pieces, in addition to sketching and painting in his early career. Other work from Calder has been featured at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art and can be found throughout the world, in five of the seven continents. Tom’s Cubicle was gifted to The Nelson by Friends of Art in 1969.

Tom’s Cubicle

Rumi was completed in 1991 and placed on exhibit for several years before coming to Kansas City. First in the Grass Roots Art Energy exhibit in Socrates Sculpture Park, Long Island City, New York from April 1991 to April 1992; then at the Doris C. Freedman Plaza in Central Park, New York City from December 1993 to August 1994; and outside of the Peggy Guggenheim Collection museum from June 11 to October 15, 1995 in a seven-piece exhibit called Mark di Suvero a Venezia, in which sculptures were placed at different sites throughout Venice, Italy. The Hall Family Foundation purchased Rumi from the Oil &amp; Steel Gallery in Long Island City in 1995, and gifted it to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in 1999. This painted steel sculpture is approximately 24-by-9-by-7 feet large and weighs nearly 4 tons. Celebrating industrial construction, Rumi is made of I-beams and features orange paint, symbolic of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, the city where artist Mark di Suvero was raised. The sculpture also characterizes the dynamic movement of Whirling Dervishes, a trance-like dance of worship in Sufism, which was inspired by the writings of the sculptures’ namesake, the 13th-century Persian poet Jala al-Din Rumi. Di Suvero remarked, "One of the things I try to do is to be multicultural. The effort in unifying the cultures of the world is one of the major forces of the 21st-century.”American artist Marco Polo “Mark” di Suvero was born in Shanghai, China in 1933 while his father was stationed as a naval ambassador for Italy. He came to the United States in 1941 and was raised in San Francisco, later earning a Bachelor of Art in Philosophy from the University of California at Berkeley. As an artist in the Abstract Expressionist era, self trained welder and licensed crane operator Mark di Suvero was the pioneer of large scale steel sculpture and began showing his work in the late 1950s. Di Suvero has long been committed to helping artists and enhancing communities through creating public art. In 1962, he co-founded the first artists' cooperative in New York City called Park Place Gallery, founded the Athena Foundation in 1977 which provided artists materials and space in order to realize their creative vision, and established Socrates Sculpture Park in 1986, which transformed the site of a Queens, New York landfill into an outdoor exhibition space that has hosted the work of over 900 artists to date.With work displayed in more than 100 museums and public collections, including in France, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Germany, Australia, Japan and the United Kingdom, di Suvero has become internationally renowned. His recognition includes the Lifetime Achievement Award in Contemporary Sculpture from the International Sculpture Center (2000); Heinz Award for Arts and Humanities (2005); Smithsonian Archives of American Art Medal (2010); National Medal of the Arts from President Obama (2010); and the American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medal for Sculpture (2013).

This 4-ton steel sculpture was created in 1991 by internationally renowned and award winning sculptor Mark di Suvero, who has been a lifelong advocate for public art. Inspired by writings of its namesake, poet Jala al-Din Rumi, the sculpture's dynamic shape represents movements from dances used during Sufi worship. Its construction is of steel I-beams and was painted orange to symbolize the Golden Gate Bridge. Rumi was gifted to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art from the Hall Family Foundation in 1999. Other works by di Suvero can be seen in museums and public collections throughout the United States, Europe, Asia, and Australia.

Kansas City's Sculpture Garden: Donald J. Hall Sculpture Park at Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art

Totem Pole (1977-2024)

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Sources