Totem Pole (1977-2024)

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.

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.

Gallery Label, Totem Pole, Nelson Atkins Museum. Accessed July 7th 2022.

Visits to the sculpture garden by local historian David Trowbridge between fall 2023 and 2024 coincide with the removal of this work.