Municipal Auditorium Artwork – Kansas City MO

Description

The Kansas City Municipal Auditorium facade is decorated with three bas relief carved medallions depicting classic themes. The medallions were created by Albert Stewart in 1934 as part of the PWA construction project. Albert Stewart was born in Kensington, England, immigrated to the United States in 1908 and was orphaned soon after arriving. He studied at the Beaux-Arts Institute of Design and the Art Students League of New York as a result of the support of Edwin Bechtel. He was an assistant to Paul Manship after WWI. He taught at Scripps College, moving to California where he lived until his death.

The auditorium also contains a series of four murals by Walter Bailey. The murals are outside the music hall and depict the four seasons with cubist overtones. They were funded by the Treasury Section of Fine Arts. Two of the murals are pictured here. Walter Bailey was born in Wallula, KS. He studied at the Kansas City Art Institute with Thomas Hart Benton and Randall Davey. He worked in newspapers in his early career, became a muralist, then was a scenic artist in Hollywood in the 1940’s. and from 1950-1967 was the art editor for the Los Angeles Herald Examiner.

Another mural by Ross Braught entitled “Mnemosyne and the Four Muses” is a monumental work at the top of the Grand Staircase at the Kansas City Music Hall in the Municipal Auditorium depicting rhythmic compositions of organic shapes. Ross Braought was born in Carlyle, PA, studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts under Daniel Garber. He moved to Woodstock, New York to the art colony, and taught classes at the Kansas City Art Institute from 1931-1936, replaced by Thomas Hart Benton. Travelling as an artist, he returned to Kansas City where he taught until 1962, and was lost track of until his death in 1983.

A number of other art deco decorations adorn the building as well.