Make Room for Color Field at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City
ArtDaily
December 12, 2015
A single act of generosity by a collector and supporter of The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City has resulted in the gifting of five more works of art, a handful of loans, and an installation celebrating Color Field painting. Luther W. Brady, M.D., one of the world’s foremost oncologists, gifted the museum with Jules Olitski’s Embraced: Yellow and Black, in the memory of his dear friend Joanne Lyon, a longtime supporter of the Nelson-Atkins. Inspired by that gift, an anonymous donor loaned the Nelson-Atkins Helen Frankenthaler’s Elberta, another quintessential example of Color Field painting. Then Kristina Olitski gave the Nelson-Atkins four Jules Olitski prints to complement one already owned by the museum, thereby creating a complete set. The recent acquisitions, not including the Olitski prints, will be celebrated in the installation Make Room for Color Field, which opened Dec. 11.