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We were looking for something fun, local and inexpensive to do after lunch on Sunday, and since we were in the neighborhood we opted for a stroll through the sculpture Kansas City Sculpture Park.
Our four-year-old was impressed with the Henry Moores… for abut 10 minutes. Then she was more interested in finding a shady patch of ground to play in the dirt.
But it was a nice stroll nonetheless.
The new Bloch Building looks terriffic framed against the lush landscaping. I was very impressed with how well the it integrates with the south lawn of the museum. It becomes almost a wall of a large outdoor room, creating a intimate experience in a large landscape.
PS- If you can’t wait to see the inside of the Bloch Building, there’s another really good slideshow of the intereior online at Architecture for Art.
tagged: Steven Holl, Nelson Atkins, art, architecture, Kansas City, museum, sculpture, Henry Moore

Original post by emawkc and software by Elliott Back

Movie Rentals Now Available on iTunes

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With apologies to J.D., I can’t help but be excited about the prospect of owning my very own Mark Rothko original.
The prize item in Sotheby’s New York sale of contemporary art on May 15th is by Mark Rothko, a Latvian-born, American abstract expressionist. David Rockefeller picked up the painting, titled White Centre, for around $10,000 in 1960, and it hung in his outer office when he was chairman of the Chase Manhattan bank. The painting is described by Oliver Barker of Sotheby’s, with barely a trace of exaggeration, as “a masterpiece”.
The top price fetched by a Rothko to date is about $22 million. But experts of the hoity and/or toity expect White Centre to go for upwards of $45 million. In fact, rumor has it that Sotheby’s has guaranteed Rockefeller a cool $40 million at a minimum.
So basically, all I have to do is come up with about $50 […]

Original post by emawkc and software by Elliott Back

Movie Rentals Now Available on iTunes

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The New Yorker has posted a review of the controversial Bloch Building, the new addition to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, designed by Stephen Holl.
Despite local criticism of the project, the reviewer gives the work high praise indeed:
As it turns out, the building, which will open in June, is not just Holl’s finest by far but also one of the best museums of the last generation. Its boldness is no surprise, but, in addition, it is laudably functional, with a clear layout, handsome and logically designed galleries, and a suffusion of natural light. Furthermore, Holl’s five glass structures, punctuating the hill, don’t mock the old building as you might expect; they dance before it and engage it.
The addition is set to open in about a month, and I for one am pretty excited. I had an opportunity to tour the addition as it was being constructed.
The New Yorker review has […]

Original post by emawkc and software by Elliott Back

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I don’t really have room to complain. I’ve got a good job, wonderful family, nice house, tons of hipness.
But being this awesome does have its drawbacks.
For one thing, I don’t have as much time for free reading as I used to have. That’s why it has taken me two months to read the 375 pages of Ross King’s The Judgment of Paris, which has been on my reading list since at least last August.
I was interested in this book for the subject matter (French art and the introduction of what became known as Impressionism), but also for the author. I had previously devoured King’s Brunelleschi’s Dome and was impressed with his ability to bring out the juice of history.
I wasn’t disappointed in that regard with The Judgment of Paris. King has an ability to take the potentially dry dates and places of history and weave in the perspective and personality […]

Original post by emawkc and software by Elliott Back

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It’s been a few months since I posted anything about the new addition to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (you can see my previous posts on this subject here, here, here and here).
My friend and inside source, Matt the Architect, has pretty much wrapped up his involvement with the project, which is set to open to the public in June.
If you’re at all interested in Kansas City and/or architecture, then you no doubt are aware of the controversey this project has spurred locally. Some keyboard critics have likened the structures to Butler Buildings, calling them an eyesore and an insult to the original neoclassical museum.
Personally I like the new addition, and not just because I have a friend who helped build it. I applaud the design daring and I’m glad the powers that be were willing to take a leap to the unconventional rather than settle for the same old […]

Original post by emawkc and software by Elliott Back

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I’ve posted several items about the controversial Steven Holl-designed addition to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, so I wanted to link to this interview (hat tip to Tony).
In the audio, Holl told KCUR’s Laura Spencer that the museum addition is possibly the greatest work of his notable career.
“It began an uncomprising, fundamental conceptual strategy that was radical vis-a-vis all the other architects who approached the project. And it was supported by the trustees and the director of the museum not to be compromised in the process.
All those things in place, that’s very hard to get that to happen in your life. So it’s a special chance, this building. It’s a very special chance and plays a special part in my work.”
The design is being featured in an exposition in Japan called “Luminosity/Porosity”
Images of the museum addition can be viewed here, here, and here.tagged: Steven Holl, Nelson Atkins, art, architecture, Kansas […]

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