The National Museum of Toys and Miniatures is closed for renovation, but some of its miniatures are now sprinkled throughout the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.
Nelson officials said they are supporting their neighbor museum and hope the exhibition of miniatures sparks a dialog.
They said it is also in homage to the Toy and Miniature Museum founders, Mary Harris Francis and Barbara Marshall.
They amassed much of the toys and miniatures in what was formerly called the Toy and Miniature Museum of Kansas City.
The miniature pieces will be on view in the Nelson lobby, the European galleries P11 and P21 and the American Galleries 212 and 211.
Karin Jones, an assistant curator at the Nelson, called them amazing works of art.
“The artists spend hours studying original, full scale works of art,” she said. “It can take months, or even years, to create one of these tiny, detailed objects.”
Jamie Berry, executive director of the National Museum of Toys and Miniatures, said, “Most of our collection will be in storage for more than a year, so we are ecstatic to have this opportunity to display a few of our miniature masterpieces at the Nelson-Atkins.”
She hopes it will whet visitors’ appetites to view their full collection when her museum reopens in spring of 2015, she said.
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