Friends of Art Records

William Rockhill Nelson’s founding bequest stipulatd that funds from his trust could not be used to purchase art from artists who had not been dead for at least 30 years. As a result, the Friends of Art of Kansas City was established in 1934 by Inez (Mrs. Gerald) Parker and Dorothy (Mrs. Logan Clendenning) with the purpose to support the recently opened William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts (now the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art) by purchasing works of modern and contemporary art to be presented to the Trustees for exhibition at the museum. Though they worked closely with the museum and its staff the Frineds were an independent organization.

In 1954, Patrick Joseph Kelleher became curator of European art and made it a priority to strengthen the Friends’ collecting activities; in 1957, they purchased their first modern sculptures. By 1960, the group established the Coffee Lounge, under the leadership of Mrs. Tracy Weltmer, which offered food and refreshments for visitors and staff. Members also volunteered as guides. Directed and trained by Margaret Rymar and Josephine Sanditz, they gave adult tours of the collections and exhibitions.

The Sales and Rental Gallery was another project of the Friends of Art. Established in 1958 and led by Karen D. (or K. D.) Bunting, this group of volunteers organized art exhibitions at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art that were separate from those organized by the museum itself. These exhibitions allowed artists who had won a prize in a juried exhibition (like the Mid-America Annual), and consignors to show and sell their artwork and supported art collecting in the Kansas City area. The Mid-America Annual was an invitational juried show, led by the Junior League of Kansas City, that gave artists in a designated eight-state area an opportunity to win purchase prizes and sell their works. The Sales and Rental Gallery and its office were located on the southwest mezzanine until 1982 when it moved to the south corridor of the ground floor (then known as the Garden Room Corridor) of the Museum.

A Selections Committee voted on whether to accept or decline any artwork from a new, eligible artist (at least three out of nine had to agree). The Sales and Rental Gallery also offered artwork available to rent on a monthly basis. Works of art available for ‘rent only’ were purchase prize winners from the Mid-America Annual, that belonged to the gallery but for which the gallery did not have wall space to hang it. Art by regional artists and dealers could also be rented on a ‘rent-to-own’ basis, if desired. Similar to an installment plan, renters payed $5 to $20 a month (depending on the overall price), which could go towards the total cost of the artwork

The Sales and Rental Gallery operated until November 1986, when the Friends of Art ceased to be an independent organization and came under the management of the Nelson-Atkins as the museum’s membership organization. It continues in this capacity to the present time.