Collection

4420 Warwick Boulevard
Kansas City, MO 64111

Contact

Kemper Museum Policies

The Kemper Museum website uses cookies. By continuing to use the site, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use.

Hours

Employment

Docent Portal

Policies

News

Accessibility Statement

Accessibility

Atrium Project

Oil on Linen

Visit

Free Admission

Programs

Location & Directions

Plan Your Visit

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

Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art

The Arterie

Exhibitions

Exhibitions & Collection

Calendar

Groups & Tours

Volunteer

Public Programs

Mission

History

Architecture

Leadership

Community Partners

About

Give

Memberships

Legacy Society

Gala

Annual Report

Support

Café

Museum Shop

Special Event Rentals

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. 

Click here to learn more about our land acknowledgment process.

Land Acknowledgement

Join

Celebrate

Shop

Charles Demuth

Charles Demuth’s watercolor depicts a vertically oriented grouping of stylized orchid blossoms. The two central flowers, with white, pink, and red petals, rise from slender, gently curving stems that are anchored by pale green leaves near the lower center of the paper. Moving outward, the subsequent blossoms become more abstract, their forms dissolving into fluid washes of muted green, deep red, and near-black pigments. These less defined orchids further merge with the background through jagged, brush-stroked edges in the upper right corner and loose, unfinished forms emerging from the lower left. Graphite appears both above and beneath the watercolor, with the delicate contour of a blossom traced in the lower left. Together, the legible flowers and surrounding abstraction suggest a single unified organic form rather than a traditional bouquet.

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

Bebe and Crosby Kemper Collection

Chromophobia

Wild Orchids

Wild Orchids, 1920Charles Demuth