KANSAS CITY.- The Kansas City Museum presents the exhibit The Photographer's Eye: Kansas City through the Lens of Warner Studio through January 21, 2007. The Photographer's Eye is snapshot of Kansas City in the 1950s -- complete with nifty cars, classy ladies, long-lost architecture and many other nostalgic subjects -- as seen the through the lens of Warner Studios and its owner, Warner Untersee.

Working as a commercial photographer in Kansas City in the 1950s, Untersee made a living promoting "The American Dream." Rather than documenting the political and social issues of the time, Untersee produced images for his clients that reflected the new nationwide desire for goods, services and entertainment that would define what "The Dream" was all about.

In retrospect, Untersee was unwittingly a visual anthropologist, his photographs providing invaluable record of mid-20th century American life, culture, sociology, architecture, urban planning, sports, leisure, fashion and pop culture. His work captures some of the essence of the post-war era for future generations.

The Photographer's Eye showcases about 230 images-a small portion of the studio's total product-from one decade of its business. The exhibit is supplemented with the museum's own collections. Highlights include an array of centennial souvenirs, a 1951 combination television/phonograph/radio and a variety of clothing from the 1950s.

A Swiss emigre and World War II veteran, Untersee learned photography at TWA Airlines after the war. He concentrated there on engineering and advertising photography. Untersee opened Warner Studio in Kansas City in 1949 and worked at various locations downtown until his retirement in 1979. He died in Kansas City in 1996.

The Photographer's Eye is the first exhibition to emerge from Warner Untersee's prodigious record of 1950s Kansas City, now part of the collections of the Kansas City Museums of History and Science.