Ross Eugene Braught: Man of Imagination

Early American modernist Ross Eugene Braught’s early career is typical of so many of his peers. He studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. He lived in artists’ havens Buck County, Pennsylvania and Woodstock, New York. He spent time in New York city and traveled abroad to see the best that Europe had to offer. He was initially a part of the Tonalist movement, but over time his aesthetic shifted to a style that he called “Sane Modernism.” During the Depression, Braught turned to teaching to make a living and wound up at the Kansas City Art Institute where he headed the painting department for four years. After nearly a decade of nomadic wanderings, Braught returned to KCAI in 1947 where he remained until his retirement in 1962. During his lifetime, Braught received national attention and exhibited at galleries and museums across the Eastern Seaboard and the Midwest. While Braught is best known as a printmaker today, he worked extensively as a muralist during his lifetime. This exhibition represents the first major posthumous compendium of his work and will be accompanied by a book.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website