In the last 30 years American art has evolved from sleepy wallflower to one of the hottest fields for collectors and museums.
As big-money buyers like Bill Gates and Alice L. Walton push prices into the stratosphere, the real action for the rest of us is on museum walls.
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art’s American collection has long provided museum-goers hugely satisfying, transporting moments into the rugged landscapes and social drawing rooms that define much of our culture’s past.
Now you can explore the depths of the Nelson’s American paintings collection in a comprehensive, two-volume catalog of the museum’s holdings. It was edited by Margaret C. Conrads, the museum’s curator of American art.
You might need a handcart to maneuver the set into your living room, but the effort will be worth it. The main volume of American Paintings to 1945 ($125 for the set) includes crisp reproductions and contextual essays (by Conrads and others) on 125 works in the collection, from George Ault’s “January Full Moon” to the recently acquired “Drums” illustration by N.C. Wyeth.
The slimmer second volume, aimed at scholarly devotees, contains detailed technical descriptions, provenance listings and records of exhibitions and references for each of the 266 works in the collection.
Yuja Wang, a 20-year-old piano phenom from China, dazzled a UMKC recital audience last February just as she has made sonic waves everywhere. This month the little player with an enormous sound returns to play music by Mendelssohn with the Kansas City Symphony and guest conductor Klauspeter Seibel. Catch her Thanksgiving weekend, at 8 p.m. Nov. 23-24 at the Lyric Theatre ($28-$50) or 2 p.m. Nov. 25 at Johnson County Community College’s Yardley Hall ($30-$52); 816-471-0400, kcsymphony.org.
One of the greatest literary love stories ever written – we knew this even before Oprah picked it for her book club -- comes to movie screens this month. That’s “Love in the Time of Cholera,” from Nobel laureate Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s sweeping novel, which tracks a postponed love affair for 51 years, nine months and four days.
Shot on location in Cartagena, Colombia, without “Hollywood stars” but with a big and faithful vision (and Shakira on the soundtrack), the movie promises to deliver lush romance, emotional depth and a film experience beyond brain candy.
A holiday tune by heartthrob vocalist Harry Connick Jr. evolved first into a TV movie and now a stage musical for young audiences (and their parents, of course). It’s about an elf intent on bringing joy to Bluesville.
And right here in Jazzville, “Harry Connick Jr.’s The Happy Elf” gets its world premiere at the Coterie Theatre in Crown Center. Directed by Jeff Church and Molly Jessup, the show runs Nov. 13-Dec. 30. Tickets cost $9-14; 816-474-6552, coterietheatre.org.
“New Leipzig” signals a much-talked about school of art from the former East Germany, paintings that explore a new kind of social realism. A formidable group of the works goes on display Nov. 16 at the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, 4420 Warwick Blvd. “Life After Death: New Leipzig Paintings From the Rubell Family Collection” runs through Feb. 3, and, as usual, admission is free; 816-753-5784.
| Steve Paul, paul@kcstar.com
"The Mill, Sunset": Among the highlights of the American paintings collection at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art is Thomas Cole’s “The Mill, Sunset,” from 1844.
"Mrs. Cecil Wade": John Singer Sargent’s portrait “Mrs. Cecil Wade,” from about 1886, landed the cover position for the Nelson’s new two-volume survey of its American paintings collection.
"Love in the Time of Cholera": Benjamin Bratt and Giovanna Mezzogiorno star in “Love in the Time of Cholera,” directed by Mike Newell from Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s literary masterpiece.
Yuja Wang: Pianist Yuja Wang joins the Kansas City Symphony on Thanksgiving weekend, taking on the music of Mendelssohn.