Bloch Building Opening

We went to the Nelson-Atkins Art Museum last Sat for the Bloch Building Opening Weekends. The Bloch Building is the new modern art wing of the Nelson and the community has anticipated its opening for quite a while. Well, the outside looks like white fluorescent blocks. However, I do like the inside a lot, especially the details on the floor. There is lots of natural light inside the gallery, open space with good flow, well ventilated. A very airy and open feeling in general.


There were two special exhibits in that weekend. And best of all, it's free for the Opening Weekends! The first one was American Photography 1839-1885. The daguerreotype was fascinating and I was amazed at how sharp the images remained after all these years. However, limited by its processing method, they are often small. Almost 90% of the images are also portrait. The work which really caught my attention was the landscape paper photograph of Carleton Watkins. Although not the same quality as those of Ansel Adams, but these were taken when paper photography was still in its infancy with redimentary optics.


I also enjoyed the other exhibitions : Monet to Matisse. I wish there could be more paintings though, and the only Monet they have is the Snowscape. Well, i guess the good ones have all been snatched by other major museums of the world. You can't ask for too much in Midwest......



Side notes: Ian had fun running around the gallery. Good thing Steve was around to run after him to make sure he didn't knock down some sculpture or vases.