In a world that places value on more rather than less, supersize rather than small, portrait miniatures from the 1500s to the 1800s often remain overlooked. Worn on the body as bracelets, rings, or pendants close to one’s heart, they are deeply personal artifacts of a bygone era. These pocket-sized portraits, delicately painted and placed in jewel-like cases, connect us on an emotional level, and their appeal remains wide ranging. Inspired by the bonds of friendship, love, loss, or allegiance, they raise questions about the subject, the occasion of the portrait, who the artist was, and what relationship they might have had with the sitter.
Some answers to these provocative questions and more can be found in the museum’s digital catalogue of its portrait miniatures collection. The second of the museum’s efforts to produce a highly accessible scholarly catalogue, free to all, this publication introduces the public to a great but little-known strength of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art’s collections. The museum has nearly three hundred portrait miniatures representing all the major schools—British, European, and American. The bulk of the collection came as gifts from Martha Jane and John W. Starr of Kansas City in 1958 and 1965. Aside from a slim handbook produced in 1971 to celebrate those gifts, the miniatures have, until now, remained unpublished and were thus a subject ripe for discovery.
Interest in producing a catalogue began in 2015 under the aegis of former deputy director of curatorial affairs, Catherine L. Futter, and two former assistant curators, Katelyn Crawford (now at the Birmingham Museum of Art) and Stefanie Kae Dlugosz-Acton (now at the University of North Texas, Denton). In the fall of 2016, Futter hired eighteenth-century British and French portrait specialist Aimee Marcereau DeGalan as the Louis L. and Adelaide C. Ward Senior Curator of European Arts to lead this project and the museum’s inaugural digital catalogue of its French paintings collection. Under the support of current deputy director William Keyse Rudolph, Marcereau DeGalan has deftly managed her team on both of these projects, highlighting two unique aspects of celebrated European collections at the Nelson-Atkins.
Arranged chronologically and within geographic groups, this catalogue comprises scholarly entries and biographies on 273 portrait miniatures and artists in the Nelson-Atkins collection, including those outside the Starr family gift.1The Starr family also gave several miniatures to other collections, including the Spencer Art Museum at the University of Kansas, Lawrence; the Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa, OK; the Cleveland Museum of Art; and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. These are catalogued in a supplement to the present digital publication. Co-authored by Marcereau DeGalan, Blythe Sobol, and Maggie Keenan—who joined the Starr research team in 2017 and 2019, respectively—and aided by Nelson-Atkins conservator Stephanie Spence, the research team, in consultation with leading scholars in the field, made many fascinating discoveries.2The research team built their understanding of the portrait miniatures on collection surveys conducted in 2017 by portrait miniature dealer and specialist Elle Shushan and miniature conservator and specialist Carol Aiken, who, along with Nelson-Atkins objects conservator Stephanie Spence, treated more than one hundred miniatures and replaced their glass. For a complete list of acknowledgments, see the catalogue preface. Their efforts, extraordinarily realized during a period of curtailed museum travel and access to outside collections, will advance the field and have a deep and lasting impact.
Our holdings of portrait miniatures would be relatively modest were it not for the generosity of the Starr Family and other donors who have entrusted their collections to the care of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. The Starr Family has also generously supported this catalogue through the Starr Family Foundation. A Digital Interpretive Grant from the Kress Foundation in 2020 facilitated hiring two digital assistants to produce many of the features of the current catalogue and prepare it for launch. Additional funds come from the museum’s publication endowment, the Mellon-Frick-Rothschild Fund, as well as the trustees of the William Rockhill Nelson Trust and the Nelson Gallery Foundation, who remain steadfast in their commitment to projects that advance our understanding of the collection. Additional thanks must go to our incredible team of supporting players outlined in the acknowledgments section, without whom this catalogue would not be possible. The authors, conservators, digital assistants, photography, and information technology staff, among many others, are to be commended for realizing this innovative and accessible catalogue. It is our great pleasure to acknowledge their collective support and the tremendous debt of gratitude we owe to all of them.
This catalogue demonstrates how much new information can be gleaned from a close examination of objects that are otherwise often overlooked. Sometimes small things can yield big, beautiful results.
Notes
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The Starr family also gave several miniatures to other collections, including the Spencer Museum of Art at the University of Kansas, Lawrence; the Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa, OK; the Cleveland Museum of Art; and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. These are catalogued in a supplement to the present digital publication.
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The research team built their understanding of the portrait miniatures on collection surveys conducted in 2017 by portrait miniature dealer and specialist Elle Shushan and miniature conservator and specialist Carol Aiken, who, along with Nelson-Atkins objects conservator Stephanie Spence, treated more than one hundred miniatures and replaced their glass. For a complete list of acknowledgments, see the catalogue preface.
doi: 10.37764/8322.6.30