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Kemper Museum is a free art museum in Kansas City, Missouri that presents global contemporary art.

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Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art acknowledges it resides on the ancestral territory of the Osage, Kaw, and Otoe-Missouria, among other tribal nations forcibly moved to the region such as the Shawnee, Wyandot, Delaware, Potawatomi, Sac and Fox and Kiikaapoi (Kickapoo) nations. We recognize and support the continued vibrancy of Native communities and cultures today who continue to thrive, as well as the inherent sovereignty of tribal nations. We are compelled to serve and advocate for these communities in accordance with our public mission.

Kemper Museum acknowledges and respects the diversity of Native people connected to this land today. Many recognize the land and all beings who live within it as relatives. We acknowledge the earth we inhabit, the waters of the Blue River, the Kansas River, the Missouri River, and the plants, animals, and people supported by them. 

We acknowledge our responsibility to be good caretakers of the land we occupy. 

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Fernando Botero

Bebe and Crosby Kemper Collection

La Pudeur

Apple

Standing five feet tall, La Pudeur, which means “modesty” in both French and Spanish, depicts a stylized nude woman rendered with the voluminous proportions that are Fernando Botero’s stylistic signature. Her upright stance, wide eyes, arched brows, pursed lips, and modest hand placement suggest both self-awareness and restraint. The smooth bronze surface and rounded forms reveal Botero’s mastery of proportion, while the plump ankles and compact toes subtly play with scale and balance. Botero rejected the common characterization of his figures as fat, emphasizing instead the expressive potential of volume and spatial presence. Drawing inspiration from the long tradition of the nude in Western art—from ancient Venuses to Renaissance ideals—Botero reinterprets these classical models through his distinct visual language, transforming them into something at once familiar and entirely his own.

Marty Arnold
MA Student in Museum Studies, University of Kansas
Fall 2025

Fernando BoteroColombian, 1932-2023