2024 New Acquisitions
6 works by 5 contemporary artists including Barbara Earl Thomas, Koak, and Martin Kline Harry Bertoia joined the Kemper Museum Permanent Collection in 2024.
Together, these recent acquisitions celebrate the museum’s exhibition history, prioritize investment in and representation of the artists from historically excluded backgrounds, and help make art accessible to the public as a mode of interpreting our contemporary world.
Julie Blackmon (American, born 1966), Hilltop, 2023, Archival pigment print, 44 x 59 3/10 inches, Collection of the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, Missouri, Bill and Christy Gautreaux Collection, Kansas City, MO, 2024.01. Art and photo © Julie Blackmon
Julie Blackmon (b. 1966, Springfield, MO), Hilltop, 2023. Gift of Bill and Christy Gautreaux.
Springfield, MO-based photographer Julie Blackmon depicts family, community, and landscape deeply rooted in her Midwestern heritage. In conversation with a wide range of artistic references–including 17th century Dutch painters, 19th century Missouri-based artist George Caleb Bingham, and Diane Arbus, she engages broader social and political issues, gender issues and family dynamics. This work was on view in her survey exhibition at the Kemper Museum, Julie Blackmon: A Life in Frame from September 15, 2023–January 7, 2024.
Barbara Earl Thomas (b. 1948, Seattle, WA), Royal Blue, 2021. Anonymous gift.
Seattle-based artist known for reinterpreting the American colonial silhouette portrait. Traditionally shown in flattened profile, these portraits, Thomas argues, reflect a “reductive bias” that erases individual identity, particularly that of Black sitters. Using a papercut technique, she carves into black paper and backs it with colorful, hand-printed layers. Royal Blue is on view in Director’s Cut from October 18, 2024–August 10, 2025.
Barbara Earl Thomas (American, born 1948), Royal Blue, 2021, Razor cut paper with hand printed color paper, 60 x 26 inches, Collection of the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, Missouri, Anonymous, 2024.02. © Barbara Earl Thomas. Photo: E. G. Schempf, 2025
Koak (b. 1981, Lansing, MI), California Landscape #3, 2024.
Koak (b. 1981, Lansing, Michigan) created California Landscape #3 specifically for the Kemper Museum’s 30th anniversary exhibition, Infinite Regress: Mystical Abstraction from the Permanent Collection and Beyond (September 20, 2024–February 23, 2025). Known for her intricately layered canvases and expressive nature scenes, Koak offers a loose depiction of wildfire—an emotionally resonant tribute to the devastation of California’s wildfires.
Koak, (American, born 1981), California Landscape #3, 2024, Flashe, acrylic, charcoal from California fires, and chalk from Seven Sisters linen, 59 x 74 inches, Bebe and Crosby Kemper Collection, Collection of the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, Missouri, Purchased with gifted funds from the R.C. Kemper, Jr. Charitable Trust and Foundation, 2024.03. © Koak. Photo: Courtesy of Altman-Siegel Gallery, 2024.
Frederick James Brown (b. 1945, Greensboro, GA–d. 2012, Scottsdale, Arizona), Conservation with Bill DeKooning, 2009. Gift of Marilyn & James Hebenstreit.
Informed by a deep knowledge of art history, Frederick James Brown's work explores American history and music, urban life, religion, and spirituality. He is celebrated for his jazz portraits as well as his innovative explorations in abstraction. Conservation with Bill DeKooning is on view in Director’s Cut from October 18, 2024–August 10, 2025
Frederick J. Brown (American, born 1945), Conservation with Bill DeKooning, 2009, Mixed media on canvas, 60 1/4 x 23 x 4 inches, Collection of the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, Missouri, Gift of Marilyn & James Hebenstreit, 2024.04. © Frederick J. Brown Trust / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: E. G. Schempf, 2025
Martin Kline (American, born 1961), Ikebana, 2005, Oil stick on canvas, 51 1/2 x 76 1/2 inches, Collection of the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, Missouri, Gift of the artist, 2024.05.01. © Martin Kline. Photo: E. G. Schempf, 2025
Martin Kline (American, born 1961), Classical Vase, 2018, Stainless steel (unique), 18 1/2 x 11 x 11 inches, Collection of the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, Missouri, Gift of the artist, 2024.05.02. © Martin Kline. Photo: E. G. Schempf, 2025
A drawing and sculpture by Martin Kline (b. 1961, Norwalk, OH): Ikebana, 2005, and Classical Vase, 2018. Gifts from the artist.
Martin Kline is best known for his work in wax and encaustic, earning recognition throughout his career for intensely process-driven abstract paintings and sculptures.