Elsie Mountain
Artist
Leonard Pryor
(American, 1924 - 2015)
Date1950
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsUnframed: 34 × 26 1/8 inches (86.36 × 66.36 cm)
Framed: 41 7/8 × 33 1/2 × 2 inches (106.36 × 85.09 × 5.08 cm)
Framed: 41 7/8 × 33 1/2 × 2 inches (106.36 × 85.09 × 5.08 cm)
Credit LineGift of Reneé Pryor Newton and Craig Pryor in loving memory of their parents Leonard and Maxine Pryor
Object number2022.8.5
SignedLower right corner, yellow-brown paint: “L. PRYOR / -1950-“
On View
On viewGallery Location
- 219
Collections
DescriptionThis vertically oriented painting features a lone woman in a long sleeved, high collared brown dress with white ruffled (lace?) accents running around cuffs and down her chest. The sitter is posed turned to the left and presented in three quarters view with her hands crossed at the knee. Her grey blue eyes seem to peer far out into the distance and her short gray white hair falls in waves. The background of this portrait is an expressive blue green with contrasting moments of dashes of white.Gallery LabelElsie Mountain served as president of the Kansas City Council of the National Negro Congress and the executive director of the Paseo Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA)-a vibrant gathering place for African Americans-between 1928 and 1943. Leonard Pryor's posthumous portrait honors her powerful legacy. It hung at the YWCA at 19th Street and Paseo Boulevard, which opened in 1950, replacing the former facility. After the building was razed, Mountain's portrait was returned to the artist. On view here for the first time, it was recently given to the museum in memory of Pryor and his wife by their children.
The artist, Kansas City, Missouri, 1950;
Clio Club, Kansas City, Missouri, 1950;
The artist, Kansas City, Missouri;
Renee Newton and Craig Pryor, Kansas City, Missouri, 2022;
Their gift to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri, 2022.
Copyright© Renée Pryor Newton and Craig Pryor
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