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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. 

Click here to learn more about our land acknowledgment process.

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Now, Then, and Tomorrow explores themes of past and future in response to the year 2020 and the COVID-19 pandemic. Curated by the Kemper Teen Arts Council, this virtual exhibition explores connections among works in Kemper Museum’s Permanent Collection that speak to our past and current realities as well as our hopes for the future.  

Council members have selected works based on formal elements that evoke feelings reminiscent of time spent in isolation and confinement. For example, Council member Katie Murphy notes the dizzying color and movement in Paycheck to Paycheck (1991) by Arthur Tress (American, born 1940), and ties this work to periods of quarantine, where days quickly blurred into weeks.

Works have also been selected with subject matter in mind to represent both shared experiences and dreams for the future. Council member Shahday Bayan selects Edvard Munch (1863–1944), Tanz de Lebens (1994), a painting from The History of Art series by Frederick James Brown (American, 1945–2012), to anticipate the return of maskless gatherings and carefree dancing with strangers. 

Featuring works in a variety of media and movements that resonate with a wide array of audiences and ideas, Now, Then, and Tomorrow speaks to our collective and individual experiences over the past year and a half.

Now, Then, and Tomorrow

Frederick James Brown, (American, 1945–2012), They Had the Right to Sing the Blues, 1995,
 acrylic on canvas, 92 x 148½ inches.
 Collection of the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, Missouri, Anonymous Gift, 2002.20.01.
 © Frederick J. Brown Trust / Artist's Rights Society (ARS), New York.