Selections from the Wichita Art Museum

Kumi Yamashita’s 0 to 9 and Chair are two highlights from the Museum’s current exhibition, the magical Light & Shadow: Alyson Shotz and Kumi Yamashita (through January 5, 2020). Yamashita’s work takes ordinary objects like blocks of wood and scraps of paper and through exceedingly clever use of light and shadow casts them into silhouetted profiles and figures. Beyond craft and beauty, further examination posits questions about fixed definitions and assumptions, potential and change, humanity and ideology - answers may be found in person.

The late Kevin Mullins shines at the entrance to the Museum’s permanent (but rotating) exhibition, Storytelling: Highlights and Insights from the Wichita Art Museum Collection. The mixed-media prints Two Lane Blacktop and Filigree No. 2 burst with color, pattern, and rhythm, each dazzling examples of the artist’s unique talents and vision. 

Highlights and Insights from the Wichita Art Museum Collection always hosts phenomenal artwork from some of history’s greatest artists and covers a wide range of styles and topics to explore. Raphael Soyer’s Dancers looks at the world around us, social realism and the human condition. William Baziotes, a prominent member of the New York School, takes us into the world of the unconscious in his fantastical oil Whirlpool. The Fog Lifts by John Marin captivates with a sculptural vision of coastal Maine and a hand-painted frame that calls to mind the ongoing craftmanship of Wichita artist collective Fisch Haus and artist Curt Clonts.

On the Museum’s first floor is Coffee and Cocktails (through April 26th), a new exhibit featuring 19th and 20th century art, objects, furniture, and clothing including finely detailed color lithographs by the famed Czech Art Nouveau artist Alphonse Mucha. Sarah Bernhardt as Gismonda and Documents Décoratifs showcase Mucha’s signature style in a historically “contemporary” setting that is transportive and intriguing.

Discover these and more at the Wichita Art Museum, 1400 Museum Blvd, Wichita, KS 67203 and online at www.wichitaartmuseum.org