I'm a frequent visitor to the Saint Louis Art Museum. Sometimes I like to suggest that it's my stuff in that incredible institution that dates back to the late 19th Century. I go so often that I notice when they move things and when one of my favorite paintings or sculptures is not on view (for whatever reason). Saint Louis is finally showing signs that Spring might be coming. On this Good Friday (3/7/2025) I return to my museum in Forest Park.
Fading Cloth, 2005 by El Anatsui (born Ghana,1944) is a stunning piece on display as I entered the East Building entrance. The piece is made of discarded liquor bottle tops strung together with copper wire. I lingered in front of this work for a time. I noted significant installations in progress and signage for an upcoming exhibition in the East Building - having something to do with France and automobiles.
Praise for Elohim Adonai, 1966 by Mark di Suvero (b. 1933) On display between the parking garage and the Case Gilbert building is a piece by an artist I have come to know through my role as docent (roughly between 2012-2022) at Lauemeier Sculpture Park in Sunset Hills and even more-so on visiting Storm King in New York. This sculpture, in my frame of reference, just sort of appeared within the last year or so. Today I read the plaque and was sort of amused, on Good Friday (after I had traveled to a Bat Mitzvah in the Boston area). I wonder if G-d is trying to tell me something. Elohim means godhood and Adonai means my lord/my master in Hebrew. Hmmm.
Elvira Resting on a Table 1918-19 oil on canvas by Amedeo Modigliani (Italian active in France 1884-1920) Well, welcome back Elvira. It was not on display for a while. Maybe it was on loan to another museum. I first met this painting when a docent shared that the piece was donated by Joseph Pulitzer Jr. in memory of his wife. It seems like St. Louis is home for Elvira.
Interior at Nice c.1919 oil on canvas by Henri Matisse (1869-1954) This piece was moved, but I understood why as it was part of a Saint Louis Art Museum exhibition entitled Matisse and the Sea. I was happy to see it closer to where I expected to find it but I was surprised to see it hanging in a spot where a I usually expect to see a Picasso painting of mother and child done by Pablo Picasso when he was about 20 years old. This open door with a peak at the sea in Nice, France reminds me a bit of the time my parents enjoyed living on Key Biscayne, Miami, Florida.
The Promenade with the Railroad Bridge, Argenteuil, 1874 by Claude Monet (1984 - 1926) Monet painted this Painting the same year as the Impressionists first exhibition. It is a wonderful example of the artists approach in that time. This piece is overshadowed in this gallery somewhat, however, as it is adjacent to one of the three panels of a remarkable Water Lillies triptych that was in Monet's studio after he died. The three triptych panels are now on view in Kansas City (Nelson Atkins Museum), Saint Louis (SLAM) and Cleveland (Cleveland Museum of Art).
Mandolin and Vase of Flowers, 1934 by Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) The Saint Louis Art Museum has Picasso paintings just steps apart that celebrate his lifetime. Pablo had his first of four children with his first wife, Olga, a ballet dancer. His next muse was just 17 when they met. (She gave birth to his second child). He was in his 40s. The yellow in this painting hints at the golden hair of Marie-Therese. Around the corner at SLAM is a cubist representation of Francois Gilot (his Muse from about 1943-1953 and mother to two more children). After Olga died in 1955, Jacqueline Rogue became Picasso's wife from about 1957 until Picasso's death in 1973. Jacqueline Rogue.
I had the pleasure of seeing a remarkable exhibition Picasso and Paper at the Cleveland Museum of Art earlier this year. I also read Francois Gilot's book Life with Picasso.
All of the above continues to support my contention that in Art - Picasso is the GOAT. A complex but talented and driven man.
The Mountain, 1937 by Aristide Maillol (1861-1944) Maillol might be my favorite sculptor. The model for this work was Dina Vierny. She led the creation of a museum in Paris celebrating the life and work of Maillol. This sculpture is a truly heroic presentation in Saint Louis. The Columbus Art Museum in Columbus, Ohio also has one. The Columbus sculpture is positioned beautifully by a reflecting pool.
Maillol's The River is on display in downtown St. Louis at City Garden and in the sculpture garden of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA).
Where's my Stuff ?: (Errrrr, well some things I haven't seen in a while at SLAM).
- Zenobia - mid 19th century sculpture by Harriet Hosmer
- Mother and Child - Picasso painting from 1901 or 1902
- Mark Rothko - orange color field painting
- St. Luke - Early 16th century limestone/Renaissance era sculpture
- George Wesley Bellows painting of his Woodstock, NY house
- Trova - Falling Man
New Stuff: (Or at least newish for being on view):
- Mark di Suvero (piece mentioned above)
- Ellsworth Kelly piece adjacent to sculpture garden
- Most of an entire gallery room dedicated to German artists - Expressionists and more.
Never seems to change
- Max Beckmann gallery (seems a bit much for one artist with not all that much variety in work. I'd settle for just keeping Titanic, Blue suit self portrait, portrait of wife Mink, the bust of his head and maybe one or two others.
- The Donald Judd on the floor probably will never move given all the care they made to mark it off.
Good Stuff
- I feel Anything in which Simon Kelly is curator is gold: Millet, Monet/Mitchell, and Matisse and the Sea to name a few.
- Sculpture Garden - much better presentation of work outside but accessible: Maillol, Renoir, Whiteread, Roxy Paine.
- The St Louis sculpture Niehaus plaster cast in St, Louis (bronze)
- The Richard Serra - circle inset in front drive(not featured/explained enough though)
- Claus Oldenberg - three way plug
