Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art

The Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, founded in 1994 by R. Crosby Kemper Jr. and Bebe Kemper, was the first museum established to collect and present contemporary art in Missouri. Located in the Southmoreland neighborhood adjacent to the Kansas City Art Institute, it complements the Nelson-Atkins Museum (which focuses on historical art) by serving as KC’s institution for 20th + 21st century contemporary work. The building, designed by architect Gunnar Birkerts, is a distinctive curving modernist structure.

History

Founding + construction (1992-1994)

The Kemper Museum was founded by R. Crosby Kemper Jr. (crosby-kemper-jr) — Kansas City banker + civic figure, then chairman and CEO of UMB Financial Corporation — together with Bebe Kemper.¹² The museum is named for Charlotte Crosby Kemper, an avid collector, arts advocate, and former director of the Kansas City Art Institute; original funding came from Crosby Jr. and several Kemper Family Foundations.² The Kemper family had been major KC civic + philanthropic figures across generations; the museum was a major gift to KC’s cultural landscape.

Construction ran 1992–1994; the concrete, steel, and glass building cost $6.6 million, and the museum opened to the public in 1994 — the first museum established to collect and present contemporary art in the state of Missouri.¹² At opening it was part of the Kansas City Art Institute; it formally incorporated as an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit with its own board of trustees on September 13, 1995.²

The building was designed by Gunnar Birkerts — a Latvian-born architect who began his career under Eero Saarinen, taught at the University of Michigan for over 30 years, and is known for distinctive museum buildings including the Corning Museum of Glass, the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, and the South Wing addition to the Detroit Institute of Arts.³

Modern operations

The Kemper Museum has continued as KC’s premier contemporary art venue. The museum:

Maintains a permanent collection of nearly 1,500 artworks spanning modern + contemporary art — from works created after the 1913 Armory Show to present-day artists¹⁴
Presents eight to ten exhibitions and major projects each year, with a focus on emerging and mid-career artists and artists from historically excluded groups⁴
Free general admission — admission, special exhibitions, and community programs are always free⁴
Educational programming — an active calendar of creative public programs for visitors of all ages⁴
Cafe + shop integrated into the museum — the restaurant (Oil on Linen, formerly Café Sebastienne) occupies a dining room installed with paintings by Frederick James Brown¹³⁵

The museum — part of the Kansas City Art Institute at its opening, independent since September 1995 — is unaffiliated with the Nelson-Atkins + the broader KC museum system.² The two institutions complement rather than compete: Nelson-Atkins covers historical work; Kemper covers contemporary.

Southmoreland neighborhood + Kansas City Art Institute proximity

The Kemper Museum’s location in the Southmoreland neighborhood (southmoreland) places it adjacent to the Kansas City Art Institute (KCAI) (kansas-city-art-institute). Southmoreland hosts all three institutions — Nelson-Atkins + Kemper + KCAI — concentrating KC’s contemporary art education + exhibition in a single walkable neighborhood cluster.⁶

Architecture

Modernist style by Gunnar Birkerts

The Kemper Museum building is one of Birkerts’s most-distinctive works. Features include:

Curving exterior walls + asymmetric massing — a “dynamic building form… expressive of the constant progression of modern art,” in Birkerts’s own statement, tied to no historical style³
Light-flooded interior galleries — a “continuous ribbon of daylight” and free-flowing, uncompartmented space, reflecting Birkerts’s signature use of indirect daylight³
Concrete, steel, and glass construction¹
Outdoor sculpture on the grounds, including the giant spider sculpture fronting the entrance³
Modernist visual identity that contrasts with the Neoclassical Nelson-Atkins nearby

Scale + features

Approximately 23,200 gross square feet, with a large central atrium under a 22-foot articulated skylight¹³
Charlotte Crosby Kemper Gallery — the 5,697-square-foot main gallery — plus three smaller galleries on the south end³
Outdoor sculpture on the museum grounds³
Cafe + shop⁵

Notable collections

Modern + contemporary American and international art — paintings, sculptures, photographs, multimedia¹
Works from artists including Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Robert Motherwell, Georgia O’Keeffe, Frank Stella, and David Hockney, among many others¹
Rotating exhibitions of contemporary working artists⁴

Cultural significance

The Kemper Museum represents Kansas City’s commitment to contemporary art as cultural infrastructure. It is among the strongest mid-sized contemporary art museums in the central United States + complements the Nelson-Atkins in establishing KC’s broader cultural-institution scale.

The combination of:

Free general admission
Distinctive Birkerts architecture
Strong permanent collection
Volker-neighborhood location adjacent to KCAI + Nelson-Atkins

makes the Kemper Museum a defining contributor to KC’s contemporary art identity.

Visiting

Address: 4420 Warwick Blvd, Kansas City, MO 64111
Public access: Free general admission⁴
Hours: Wednesday 10 a.m.–4 p.m.; Thursday 10 a.m.–9 p.m.; Friday–Sunday 10 a.m.–4 p.m.; closed Monday + Tuesday⁵
Outdoor sculpture: On the museum grounds, visible from the street³
Tours + programs: Docent-led gallery conversations + a public program calendar⁴

Neighborhood context

Neighborhood: Southmoreland
Adjacent landmarks: Nelson-Atkins Museum (a short walk southeast), Kansas City Art Institute, Country Club Plaza (just south)⁶

Sources

Wikipedia — “Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art.” — asserts: founded by Bebe and R. Crosby Kemper Jr., opened 1994; 23,200-square-foot concrete, steel, and glass building constructed 1992–1994 at a cost of $6.6 million; permanent collection spans works created after the 1913 Armory Show to present-day artists, including Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Robert Motherwell, Georgia O’Keeffe, Frank Stella, and David Hockney; the museum cafe’s dining room holds 110 paintings by Frederick J. Brown. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸
Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art (official) — “History.” — asserts: named for Charlotte Crosby Kemper, collector and former director of the Kansas City Art Institute; founded by R. Crosby Kemper Jr. (then chairman and CEO of UMB Financial Corporation) and Bebe Kemper; opened 1994 as the first museum established to collect and present contemporary art in Missouri; part of KCAI at opening, incorporated as an independent 501(c)(3) with its own board of trustees on September 13, 1995; permanent collection seeded by the Bebe and Crosby Kemper Collection and Kemper Family Foundations. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵
Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art (official) — “Architecture” (includes Gunnar Birkerts’s architectural statement) — asserts: Birkerts-designed building of approximately 23,200 gross square feet; central atrium with 22-foot articulated skylight; Charlotte Crosby Kemper Gallery (5,697 sq ft) plus three small galleries; cafe dining room with immersive Frederick James Brown installation; Birkerts born in Latvia, began under Eero Saarinen, University of Michigan faculty 30+ years, Brunner Memorial Prize; other museums include Corning Museum of Glass, Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, and the Detroit Institute of Arts South Wing; giant spider sculpture at the entrance. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹
Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art (official) — “About.” — asserts: nearly 1,500 artworks in the permanent collection; eight to ten exhibitions and major projects a year, with focus on emerging, mid-career, and historically excluded artists; admission, special exhibitions, and community programs always free; independent 501(c)(3). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷
Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art (official) — “Hours.” — asserts: open Wednesday 10 a.m.–4 p.m., Thursday 10 a.m.–9 p.m., Friday–Sunday 10 a.m.–4 p.m., closed Monday and Tuesday; the museum restaurant is Oil on Linen. ↩ ↩² ↩³
Wikipedia — “Southmoreland.” — asserts: the Southmoreland neighborhood of Kansas City hosts the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Kansas City Art Institute. ↩ ↩²