The Nelson-Atkins, Kemper and Nerman museums are right around the corner. Galleries in the Crossroads and across the metropolitan area, as well as regional museums, reveal the breadth and depth of the arts here.
But to be a great arts community, there must be surprises. Art you might find where you least expect it. And Kansas City has that, too.
Maybe you’ve driven by a sculpture for years without ever knowing its story. Or maybe you just never ventured into certain areas that happen to have gems awaiting art lovers.
We set out into the city and beyond, looking for art in unexpected places. Here are six samples of what we found.
Story of a city
Main Post Office, Union Station
300 W. Pershing Road
Robert Secor picks up his mail at the post office in Union Station several times a week. Like hundreds of others, his post office box sits under a large mural with a long history.
“I look at it all the time,” says Secor, who lives in Westport. “I don’t think people appreciate Union Station enough. I think things like this mural and the whole station make Kansas City special.”
Secor sets to explaining the mural.
“See, it’s about the earliest days of the city. That’s the Missouri River,” says Secor, 47. “You see people unloading supplies off the steamboat and starting to build the town. There’s some trade going on.”
The painting was always meant to hang in Union Station, originally in Fred Harvey’s Westport Room. When the station was closed and went into disrepair, a local company bought the mural and moved it to its space. When the train station was restored, the Westport Room mural returned home.
The large, active mural was created by New York artist Hildreth Meière, best known for her art deco style of the 1920s and ’30s, especially the domes and ceilings in the Nebraska State Capitol and the medallions on Radio City Music Hall. Meière worked in a world dominated by men but was much sought after for her mixture of power and elegance.
She did only one other commission in Missouri, a series of mosaics for the St. Louis Cathedral.
“It’s something to be proud of,” Secor says. “Not something just to walk past.”
A profile of courage
Salvatore Grisafe Memorial
16th and the Paseo
You won’t learn much about Salvatore Grisafe by visiting the sculpture created in his honor.
“Presented to those citizens who believe in the principles of law, order and good citizenship, as best exemplified by Salvatore Grisafe,” reads the memorial’s plaque.
Grisafe is remembered for a brave deed: In 1964 the 17-year-old De La Salle High School student happened upon the robbery of two women. In attempting to stop it, he was shot and killed.
In April 1968 the Junior Chamber of Commerce raised the stainless steel statue in his honor.
That statue, which resembles both a flame and a person reaching for the sky, was created by Jac T. Bowen, a noted local artist. Bowen, who studied and taught at the Kansas City Art Institute, was a painter, sculptor and illustrator.
A student of Thomas Hart Benton, Bowen found his own style, which bears little resemblance to Benton’s. Bowen was best known for whimsical animal sculptures he created for local shopping malls. But he was also a serious artist, as demonstrated by the Grisafe piece.
Bowen also created the brass relief on the Kansas City Board of Trade’s building and the “Industrial Activity of the City” mural found in the Higginsville, Mo., post office.
Michael Humphrey of Kansas City is a freelance writer. Allison Long is a photographer for The Star. To reach them, send e-mail to starmag@kcstar.com.
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