The Philadelphia Museum of Art settles its Super Bowl wager with KC. Who’s the real winner?
How do you think Kansas City barbecue will measure up to Philly cheesesteaks? Should we even ask?
A delegation from the Philadelphia Museum of Art will visit Kansas City’s Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art on Thursday to see Sailing, the Thomas Eakins painting they loaned as their part of a Super Bowl wager.
But the Philly folks aren’t showing up empty-handed. They are bringing an Eakins sketch of the painting Monsignor James P. Turner, which Nelson-Atkins already has in its collection. Art lovers in Kansas City will get to enjoy both Sailing and the sketch for the next several months.
“The Philadelphia Museum of Art family are great winners, but we’re also good losers, and we’re delighted to lend our friends at the Nelson-Atkins Museum in Kansas City two extraordinary works by Thomas Eakins,” said Sasha Suda, director and CEO of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. “By adding the sketch for Monsignor James P. Turner to our loan in addition to the painting Sailing, the people of Kansas City will get to see both the process of creation and the masterpiece — that’s an artful win.”
Hearing that Suda and her six colleagues were making their part of the deal such a special twofer was welcome news indeed.
“I was delighted to learn that my fabulous counterpart in Philadelphia, Sasha Suda, made a surprise gesture to bring along the preliminary oil sketch of the Eakins work already hanging in our gallery,” said Julian Zugazagoitia, Nelson-Atkins’ director and CEO. “This gives us an enlightening glimpse into Eakins’ creative process.”
Both paintings are very Philly in terms of subject matter. Monsignor Turner was a good friend of Eakins’, and the background of the artist’s portrait of him is the Cathedral of SS. Peter and Paul. Sailing depicts fowl hunters on the Delaware River on their way to what at that time were the marshes of South Philadelphia, not far from where the Eagles now play.
The Philadelphia contingent will get to view both loaned artworks on display. Sailing went up a few weeks ago, timed for the NFL draft held in Kansas City.
Then the Philly folks will get to enjoy their part of the MuseumBowl23 bet: some genuine Kansas City barbecue as the guest of Zugazagoitia’s.
“They will be feasting on Jack Stack Barbecue — which is delicious!” said Nelson-Atkins spokesperson Kathleen Leighton.