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Kansas City Up-to-Date

Karl-G

By Karl-G
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Karl-G Mentor

Karl-G

Posted
Posted

If you enjoy art and modern architecture, a visit to Kansas City, MO, is wonderfully worthwhile. As museums all over the U.S. add wings to enlarge their space, this is probably the most successful and beautiful. After the disappointments of Minneapolis and Denver, flashy but pretty useless, the Bloch Wing of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City is wonderfully refreshing and successful. Kansas City can boast of its citizens, Mr. Kemper, Mr. Bloch (of HR Block), and Mr. Hall (of Hallmark), all of whom are vigorous supporters of the arts and generous benefactors of museums in the city.

 

The original Nelson-Atkins Museum was erected in 1933 in a pure Neo-Classical Style. It sits high atop a hill with a huge sward of grass running down the hill in front of it. Trees line both sides.

 

 

That's Rodin's "The Thinker" sitting out in front, and one of Claes Oldenbourg's "Shuttlecocks" over to the side.

 

What kind of a new wing should be added to this building? Another Neo-Classical structure? Will anything else work? The successful architect is Steven Holl, and he designed the equivalent of a 67 story glass sheathed skyscraper, laid it on its side, and half buried it in the ground. I couldn't believe it either, but it works wonderfully. It is attached to the old building underground by a new entry. It is a series of large, open, spacious, well lighted rooms gradually descending the hill. The walls are flat, large, and perfect for 20th century art. No goofy angles or impossible walls. You gradually descend via a series of short stairs or along a gradual ramp. The building projects above ground in five "lenses," which look like large ice cubes rising from the ground. They are visually completely separate from the old building, screened by the row of low trees. It works brilliantly. The upper-most building faces the old facade and across a large reflecting pool.

 

 

If the three keynotes of a classical style are clarity, simplicity, and balance, the new building has these also. The reflecting pool is a sculpture by Walter de Maria entitled "Sun and 30 Moons." A new garage has been built underneath the pool and lawn. The "sun" is a slightly convex platform covered in gold leaf; the "moons" are 30 circles of plexiglass set in the floor. During the day, light shines through and with the always moving water, wonderful patterns of light and shadow are cast in the garage below. At night, there are lights embedded in the moons, and they glow beneath the water.

 

 

Every night from 7:00 p.m. to midnight, these buildings are illuminated. The walls are made of two layers of frosted glass with light between them. They were made in Germany. The view is extraordinary. There is a purity, a magic, a vision which rises before you, and you can walk along the paths and get constantly changing perspectives. The architecture is art, luminist art. But it is much more than exterior; the interior houses an excellent collection of paintings and sculpture. This does not rank with Chicago, New York, and Washington, but it is one of the leaders of the second tier along with Indianapolis.

 

 

There is no admission to the museum any time, and even the acoustiguides are free. They are very good and you can wander at your leisure and own pace, listening to excellent explications and with appropriate music. This is for the new building, the old building, and the many outdoor sculptures scattered around the property. Parking is $5. There is a major collection of Henry Moore sculptures, most outside, and a lovely new Isamu Noguchi meditative garden with seven of his works.

 

In the old section, there is a superb restaurant, entitled The Rozzelle Court, which serves wonderful lunches in a Renaissance court brought from Italy. The medieval collection is small but good, the Japanese is incredibly rich although small, with some of the finest screens ever made including a magnificant pair by Maruyama Okyo. The American collection is very good for 19th century. One of the best Van Gogh's in existence in inside and several superb Pissarros.

 

 

Just a block away is the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, which was designed by Gunnar Birkerts. It is small, but has a very rich collection, endowed by Mr. Kemper and his insurance company. Wonderful paintings by Helen Frankenthaler, Thomas Hart Benton, Georgia O'Keeffe, Alice Neel, glass sculptures by Dale Chihuly including one made of Waterford crystal, and many more! It's a wonderful place! (They have a fine website on-line.)

 

 

 

You can usually get a room at the Marriott in Country Club Plaza on priceline, and that is only three blocks from the Nelson-Atkins. It is also right across the street from "Country Club Plaza," a sort-of recreation of Seville, Spain, with shops and restaurants having mosaic tiled domes, spires, Spanish architecture, and some 150 stores and restaurants, most with both indoor and outdoor seating. Kansas City is the City of Fountains, and more than 40 major ones can be found all around the city. Try to fly there on Midwest Airlines, which offers non-stop flights from a number of cities, flies 717s with only 88 seats, 4 across in wide, soft leather seats. All one class, and very fine service.

 

 

 

This is one of the "Reclining Figures" by English sculptor Henry Moore which is situated on the grounds around the Nelson-Atkins Museum. . . . Kansas City is well worth a visit, and especially right now as a pilgrimage to the new art museum. Bon voyage!

trilingual Rising Star

trilingual

Posted
Posted

We Kansas Citians are proud of the new Bloch Building and welcome visitors to our city. Karl-G did a great job describing the building and the Nelson-Atkins Museum. The new Bloch Building is a stunning addition to the museum, which has an impressive collection with a number of masterworks well worth seeing. Personal favorites among them include a dramatic Caravaggio of a youthful nude (and petulant) St. John the Baptist, a Rubens "Sacrifice of Isaac," a superb Bronzino portrait of a young man, and many others. The Chinese collection is especially fine, and the museum's original neo-classical building is a beauty in its own right.

 

Visitors also shouldn't miss the monumentally phallic Liberty Memorial, housing the new National World War I Museum. From the terrace or the top of the tower there are sweeping views of Union Station and Kansas City's surprisingly impressive skyline, with a number of fine Art Deco towers.

 

[http://www.geospectra.net/lewis_cl/kanscity/kc02.jpg]

 

Kansas City may not be the nation's gay mecca, but there's plenty of gay life here. Check out the fine food and drink at Bistro 303 (303 Westport Road) in the historic Westport neighborhood, not far from the Plaza or the Museum. Another attractive bar (with food) is Bar Natasha, 1911 Main Street, in the artsy Crossroads district near downtown. Outa Bounds is a gay sports bar (again with food) with a friendly clientele located at the corner of 36th and Broadway. Half a block away on Broadway is the urbane Café Trio, a restaurant with a very festive bar.

 

Enjoy your stay in Kansas City!

doctordoctor Contributor

doctordoctor

Posted
Posted

From "Oklahoma".........

 

 

 

Kansas City

 

[Will]

I got to Kansas City on a Frid'y

By Saturdy I learnt a thing or two

For up to then I didn't have an idy

Of whut the modren world was comin' to!

I counted twenty gas buggies goin' by theirsel's

Almost ev'ry time I tuk a walk

'Nen I put my ear to a Bell Telephone

And a strange womin started in to talk!

 

[Aunt Eller]

Whut next!?

 

[Will's friends]

Yeah whut!?

 

[Will]

Whut next?

Ev'rythin's up to date in Kansas City

They've gone about as fur as they c'n go!

They went and built a skyscraper seven stories high

About as high as a buildin' oughta grow

Ev'rythin's like a dream in Kansas City

It's better than a magic lantern show!

Y' c'n turn the radiator on whenever you want some heat

With ev'ry kind o' comfort ev'ry house is all complete

You c'n walk to privies in the rain and never wet your feet!

They've gone about as fur as they c'n go

 

[All]

Yes sir!

They've gone about as fur as they c'n go!

 

[Will]

Ev'rythin's up to date in Kansas City

They've gone about as fur as they c'n go!

They got a big theayter they call a burleeque

Fer fifty cents you c'n see a dandy show

 

[One of the men]

Girls?!

 

[Will]

One of the gals was fat and pink and pretty

As round above as she was round below

I could swear that she was padded from her shoulder to her heel

But later in the second act when she began to peel

She proved that ev'rythin' she had was absolutely real!

She went about as fur as she could go

 

[All]

Yes sir!

She went about as fur as she could go!

 

(Will begins doing the two-step alone)

[One of the men (spoken)]

Watcha doin' Will?

 

[Will (spoken)]

It's called the two step! It's all they're doin' nowadays.

The waltz is through. Catch on? Of course they don't do it alone,

Come on Aunt Eller! (Will grabs Aunt Eller and they dance for a while)

 

[Aunt Eller (falling back into her place, exhausted)]

And that's about as fur as I c'n go!

 

[All]

Yes sir! And that's about as fur as she c'n go!

 

(Will begins to do ragtime alone)

 

[Another man (spoken)]

Watcha doin' now, Will?

 

[Will (spoken)]

It's called Ragtime, seen a couple fellers doin' it

 

(All men and a few passing women stop to dance for a while.)

 

[All (while still dancing)]

And that's about as fur as we c'n go!

gp0560 Community Regular

gp0560

Posted
Posted

>Karl-G, thanks for the detailed sales pitch. I'm going to

>tell Derek to add Kansas City to our list of places to visit.

>:-)

 

Yeah sure. You just want to go to KC because the cock and balls remind you of Derek.

Guest Raffy

Guest Raffy

Posted
Posted

when i was about 8, i took saturday mornig art classes at the nelson (this was way before most of you were born).

 

when i was about 20, i spent a lot of nights cruising the liberty memorial mall -- and the plaza.

 

KC was a great place to grow up -- and come out -- and leave.

 

Thanks for the reminder and tributes, guys.

 

ps: anyone remember the Redhead or the Arabian Nights (the tent)??

 

bob

trilingual Rising Star

trilingual

Posted
Posted

Oh yes, I remember the Redhead and the Tent. I came out in those bars in the mid '60s. They're long gone but not forgotten. Compared to NY of the era, those bars were quite advanced -- you could dance and make out there. In NY that was still strictly taboo! I once asked one of the owners how long this had been going on in KC and he told me there had never been a police raid on a gay bar in the history of the city. This at a time when straight bars regularly got closed down for serving minors. But not at the gay places. Seems to have been a carry-over from Kansas City's frontier town past and its history of being wide open during Prohibition. It's since become a lot more sedate. But there's still a kind of "live and let live" ethos that probably dates back to those early days.

gp0560 Community Regular

gp0560

Posted
Posted

>>Yeah sure. You just want to go to KC because the cock and

>>balls remind you of Derek.

>

>Derek's has a curve, remember? :p

 

I need a refresher course.

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