Ethlyne Jackson

Ethlyne Jackson was an artist, curator and art historian who played a critical role at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art during its early years. She was also one of Kansas City's first female art historians, imparting her wealth of knowledge to students at the Kansas City Art Institute. She painted throughout her life, embracing art as both a professional career and a personal practice.

Ethlyne Jackson was born in Kansas City, Missouri, on August 21, 1906. After graduating with degrees in art history from the University of Kansas and painting from the Kansas City Art Institute, Ethlyne Jackson decided to pursue a career at the newly opened William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and the Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts. In 1933, Jackson was hired as secretary to the museum's first director, Paul Gardner. She helped supervise the museum's inner workings, from purchasing new works of art to arranging exhibitions and giving lectures. In 1936, she became an art history professor at the Kansas City Art Institute, teaching classes on decorative arts, furniture design, ancient art and American art. During the 1930s, she received a year-long fellowship from Yale University to study art history and museum curation. 

In 1942, World War II was in full swing and many of the museum's staff had been drafted into the military. In the absence of Paul Gardner, Ethlyne Jackson was named Interim Director and took over the museum's main leadership role. Jackson was met with resistance by the museum's board of trustees, particularly J.C. Nichols. They refused to raise her salary to more than one-fourth of Gardner's and often questioned her judgment. Yet Gardner endorsed every one of Jackson's decisions, and she soon proved her ability by expanding the museum's collection, increasing attendance and hosting national exhibitions. By 1945, Jackson was regularly advising Nichols and the board on artwork purchases, drawing from her in-depth knowledge of the museum's collection and the contemporary art market. 

In 1945, Paul Gardner returned to Kansas City and Ethlyne Jackson stepped down as Interim Director. The next year, she resigned from the museum and married Germain Seligman, an art historian and collector who managed an international art dealership firm. The couple moved to New York City, where Jackson continued to work as a painter, expanding her creative practice. She and Seligman continued collecting art and made significant artwork donations to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art over the next several decades. Ethlyne Jackson died on May 12, 1993, at age eighty-seven.