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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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Stop / Motion is an exhibition of two-dimensional works from the Kemper Museum Permanent Collection that focus on the varying techniques used by artists to demonstrate both a sense of stillness and action. In addition to the figure present in each of these works, each artist’s composition reinforces either action or stasis.  

Exemplifying motion, Philip-Lorca di Corcia’s theatrically charged photograph Japan (1994) exudes action as a man hustles down a city street, while simultaneously capturing the fixed quality of the photographic medium. Cindy Sherman draws on cinematic styling in her work Film Still #60 (1980), creating a dynamic scene that suggests the narrative quality of a film persona. 

Artists also create a sense of stillness in works as a means to emphasize specific people and moments. Till Freiwald’s Untitled (2002) is a portrait of a woman in a front-facing pose, in a direct gaze with the viewer. The figure’s presentation on a white ground offers an even greater focus on the subject. By contrast, Garry Winogrand’s pastoral photographs from the late 1960s and early 1970s depict a lake shoreline and figures in leisurely repose that emphasize static scenes. Together, the works show us ways in which artists achieve aspects of motion and stillness through inventive and pointed compositional techniques.

Stop / Motion

Till Freiwald, Untitled, 2002, watercolor on paper, 41 x 29 inches, Museum purchase made possible by a gift from Jo and Bob Loyd, 2002.19