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Kansas City, MO 64111

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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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permanent-collection

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Kemper Museum’s informed and rigorous collecting and exhibition history illuminates the importance of visual language as a mode of interpreting our contemporary world.  

Gesture has been both a broad and grounding concept throughout the Kemper Museum Collection since the collection first established by an initial gift of more than 300 objects from the museum’s co-founders Mary “Bebe” Hunt and R. Crosby Kemper, Jr. (1927–2014) in 1994. This initial gift included exceptional works by such artists as Larry Bell, Dan Christensen, Helen Frankenthaler, Hans Hofmann, Virginia Jaramillo, Kenneth Noland, Frank Stella Monumental and sweeping or focused and intimate; dripped, patterned, poured, carved, or built; abstract and representational, direct and obscure, activated and still, gesture remains a powerful concept that allows viewers to engage with works of art from many generations and perspectives.

Since the collection was established, great strides have been made to reflect a more inclusive scope of American art and that of the world in its growth to nearly 1,500 objects. Representing artists from historically excluded backgrounds remains a priority as the museum makes acquisitions and continues to conduct research to address the gaps in the collection. 

With a history of collecting works from exhibitions it organized, the museum which has resulted in the addition of works by such artists as Firelei Báez (Dominican, born 1981), Betty Blayton (American, 1937–2016), Rashid Johnson (American, born 1977), Angel Otero (Puerto Rican, born 1981), and Dyani White Hawk (Sičáŋǧu Lakota, born 1976).

Visitors see a rotating selection of Collection works at the museum on view in the Atrium and in focused exhibitions. 

Even when collection works are not on view, the museum engages audiences across the globe by loaning artist works to other institutional exhibitions and participating in global initiatives such as Google Arts and Culture to expose the collection to wider audiences for research and scholarship. Kemper Museum also updates its collection catalogue regularly to illustrate developments in the museum’s collecting history.

artist index

Artist Index

Magdalena Abakanowicz

Ron Adams

June Ahrens

Gary Akers

Josef Albers

Terry Allen

José Alvarez (D.O.P.A)

Alvin Eli Amason

Gregory Amenoff

Sherald, Amy

Barry Anderson

Peter Anton

Polly Apfelbaum

Ken Aptekar

Alexander Archipenko

Siah Armajani

L. C. Armstrong

Charles Arnoldi

Steven Assael

Nicole Awai

Francis Bacon

John Balistreri

Bill Barminski

Tina Barney

Jennifer Bartlett

David Bates

Romare Bearden

José Bedia

Larry Bell

Philomene Bennett

Thomas Hart Benton

Robin Bernat

Harry Bertoia

Janice Biala

Bianca Fields

Ed Blackburn

Julie Blackmon

Betty Blayton

Rita Blitt

Diana Blok

Sonja Blomdahl

Claude Bogratchew

Boi Boy

Chakaia Booker

Fernando Botero

Louise Bourgeois

Manuel Alvarez Bravo

Frederick James Brown

Frederick James Brown at Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art

Byron Browne

John Buck

Dan Budnik

Charles Burchfield

Bisa Butler

Firelei Báez

Paul Cadmus

Ernesto Caivano

Harry Callahan

Beth Campbell

Patty Carroll

Nick Cave

Marek Cecula

Robert Chambers

Barbara Chase-Riboud

Judy Chicago

Dale Chihuly

William Christenberry

Christo

John Clem Clarke

Chuck Close

Tom Corbin

Petah Coyne

Deborah Dancy

Jackson Daughety

Arthur B. Davies

Lynn Davis

Stuart Davis

Elaine de Kooning

Willem de Kooning

Charles Demuth

Vincent Desiderio

Philip-Lorca DiCorcia

Richard Diebenkorn

Lesley Dill

Lois Dodd

Bruce Dorfman

Arthur Dove

Rackstraw Downes

Angela Dufresne

Friedel Dzubas

Robert Ebendorf

Lalla Essaydi

Walker Evans

Robert Farber

Miller Farr

Nikolay Fechin

Ken Ferguson

Janet Fish

Vernon Fisher

Angela Fraleigh

Mary Frank

Indicates that the artist is currently on view at Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art.

collection-policies

Collection Policies

Please read our Image Use Guidelines and complete the Image Use Request Form before attempting to capture or use any images from this website for personal use or otherwise. 

To learn more about donating artwork, please read our Gifts of Art Policy.

Kemper Museum extends the reach of its Collection by loaning artworks to other institutions to be presented in special exhibitions. In this way, the Collection engages more people and contributes to research in contemporary art. 

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