Friends of the Kansas City Jewish Museum of Contemporary Art and the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art mingled while enjoying an elegant catered brunch at the home of KCJMCA Past President Michael Klein, while each organization’s leaders welcomed Norman Kleeblatt, Susan and Elihu Rose, Chief Curator of the Jewish Museum, New York to Kansas City. Kleeblatt’s visit also included a city tour and a lecture at the Kemper Museum on the occasion of their retrospective solo exhibition Revelation: Major Paintings by Jules Olitski.
The event represents the rekindling of a partnership between the two organizations that dates back to 1998, when a KCJMCA Museum Without Walls collaboration brought Christian Boltanski’s solo exhibition to the Kemper in 1998 and KCJMCA donors raised funds to purchase a major work for the Kemper’s permanent collection. The co-sponsored private brunch and lecture was held in memory of KCJMCA founder Norman Kahn (1918-2011), who also served as the Kemper Museum’s first male docent, a donor, and lender to the institution.
