Museum officials announced today (June 28, 2006) that the new Bloch Building at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art will open in June 2007. The two inaugural exhibitions include Impressionist paintings from the collection of Marion and Henry Bloch, and an exhibit of 19th-century photographs from Hallmark Photographic Collection, acquired by the museum in January. Here, Keith Davis, Curator of Photography, and Henry Bloch, Chairman of the Board of Trustees, give an overview of the exhibitions. By Laura Spencer
Kansas City, MO – Here, Keith Davis, Curator of Photography, and Henry Bloch, Chairman of the Board of Trustees, give an overview of the exhibitions. (See below for a partial transcript).
KEITH DAVIS: The first exhibition...is going to present to the public an aspect of the collection that hasn't been seen before. It's really fresh material...There will be many pieces in the show that have never been seen publicly before...
HENRY BLOCH: We collect Impressionist art...from about 1870 to 1940. Our previous Director (at the Nelson-Atkins) is a man named Ted Coe...he was an expert in that...he helped us. And to have a person like that direct you...We like pretty pictures and they are very very pretty.
"Manet to Matisse: Impressionist Masters from the Marion and Henry Bloch Collection" features paintings by Monet, van Gogh, Degas, Pissarro, Renoir and other Impressionist and post-Impressionist masters. This marks the first public showing of the entire collection.
"Developing Greatness: The Origins of American Photography, 1839-1885," presents 250 highlights from the Hallmark Photographic Collection?s holdings of 19th-century photographs, including daguerreotypes, Civil War images and Western survey works.