Saint Louis Art Museum Explained

Saint Louis Art Museum
Location:Forest Park, St. Louis, Missouri
Website:www.slam.org
Built:1904
Built For:1904 World's Fair
Coordinates:38.6394°N -90.2944°W
Mapframe:yes
Mapframe-Zoom:12
Mapframe-Caption:Interactive map (click to expand)
Mapframe-Marker:museum
Mapframe-Wikidata:yes
Designation1:St. Louis Landmark
Designation1 Type:Structure
Designation1 Number:21

The Saint Louis Art Museum (SLAM) is one of the principal U.S. art museums, with paintings, sculptures, cultural objects, and ancient masterpieces from all corners of the world. Its three-story building stands in Forest Park in St. Louis, Missouri, where it is visited by up to a half million people every year. Admission is free through a subsidy from the cultural tax district for St. Louis City and County.[1]

In addition to the featured exhibitions, the museum offers rotating exhibitions and installations. These include the Currents series, which features contemporary artists, as well as regular exhibitions of new media art and works on paper.[2]

History

See main article: St. Louis School of Fine Arts.

The museum's origins date to 1879,[3] when the Saint Louis School and Museum of Fine Arts was founded as part of Washington University.[4] The nascent museum was housed in a building Wayman Crow commissioned of Boston architects Peabody and Stearns as a memorial to his son, Wayman Crow Jr. The structure was located at 19th and Lucas Place (now Locust Street). The school, led by director Halsey Ives, offered studio and art history instruction supported by a museum collection.

When the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition closed, the museum and school moved from the Peabody-Stearns structure to Cass Gilbert's Palace of Fine Arts building. The building at 19th and Lucas Place rapidly fell into disrepair, and was eventually demolished in 1919.[5]

After the relocation, Director Ives introduced a bill into the General Assembly for an art tax to support museum maintenance.[6] The citizens of Saint Louis approved the bill by a nearly 4-to-1 margin; however, the city's controller refused to distribute the tax as the museum was not recognized as a municipal entity and thus had no right to tax money. The Missouri Supreme Court upheld this decision in 1908. This caused the formal separation of the museum from the university in 1909, a split which was the beginning of three civic institutions:

During the 1950s, the museum added an extension to include an auditorium for films, concerts, and lectures. Director Charles Guggenheim's American Museum (1959) debuted in the new auditorium space as a 50th anniversary event.[12]

In 1971, efforts to secure the museum's financial future led voters in St. Louis City and County to approve the creation of the Metropolitan Zoological Park and Museum District (ZMD). This expanded the tax base for the 1908 tax to include St. Louis County.[13] In 1972, the museum was again renamed, to the Saint Louis Art Museum.[13]

Today, the museum is supported financially by the tax, donations from individuals and public associations, sales in the Museum Shop, and foundation support.[14]

Expansion

Plans to expand the museum, which existed in the 1995 Forest Park Master Plan and the museum's 2000 Strategic Plan, began in earnest in 2005, when the museum board selected the British architect Sir David Chipperfield to design the expansion; Michel Desvigne was selected as landscape architect. The St. Louis-based firm, Hellmuth, Obata, and Kassabaum (HOK) was the architect of record to work with the construction team.

On November 5, 2007, museum officials released the design plans to the public and hosted public conversations about those plans. A model of the new building was displayed in the museum's Sculpture Hall throughout the construction project. In 2008, citing the declining state of the economy, the museum announced that it would delay the start of the expansion, whose cost was then estimated at $125 million.[15]

Construction began in 2009; the museum remained open.[16] [17] The expansion added more than 224000square feet of gallery space, including an underground garage, within the lease lines of the property. Money for the project was raised through private gifts to the capital campaign from individuals, foundations and corporations, and from proceeds from the sale of tax-exempt bonds. The fundraising campaigned covered the $130-million cost of construction and a $31.2 million increase to the museum's endowment to support incremental costs of operating the larger facility. The expanded facility opened in the summer of 2013.

Collection

The collection of the Saint Louis Art Museum contains more than 34,000 objects dating from antiquity to the present. The collection is divided into nine areas:

  1. American
  1. Ancient and Egyptian
  1. Africa, Oceania, Americas
  1. Asian
  1. Decorative Arts and Design
  1. European to 1800
  1. Islamic
  1. Modern and Contemporary
  1. Prints, Drawings, and Photographs

The modern art collection includes works by the European masters Matisse, Gauguin, Monet, Picasso, Corrado Giaquinto, Giambattista Pittoni and Van Gogh. The museum's particularly strong collection of 20th-century German paintings includes the world's largest Max Beckmann collection, which includes Christ and the Woman Taken in Adultery.[18] In recent years, the museum has been actively acquiring post-war German art to complement its Beckmanns, such as works by Joseph Beuys, Gerhard Richter, Martin Kippenberger, Sigmar Polke, and Anselm Kiefer.[16] The collection also includes Chuck Close's Keith (1970).[19]

The collections of Oceanic and Mesoamerican works, as well as handwoven Turkish rugs, are among the finest in the world. The museum holds the Egyptian mummy Amen-Nestawy-Nakht, and two mummies on loan from Washington University, Padi-menekh and Henut-wedjebu.[20] [21] Its collection of American artists includes the largest U.S.-museum collection of paintings by George Caleb Bingham.[22]

The collection contains at least six pieces that Nazis confiscated from their own museums as degenerate.[23] These include Max Beckmann's "Christ and the Woman Taken in Adultery" which came to the museum through a New York art dealer, Curt Valentin, who specialized in Nazi confiscations, and Matisse's "Bathers with a Turtle" which Joseph Pulitzer purchased at the Galerie Fischer auction held in the Grand Hôtel National, Lucerne, Switzerland, June 30, 1939.[23] [24] [25]

In the context of the museum's 2013 expansion, British artist Andy Goldsworthy created Stone Sea, a site-specific work for a narrow space between the old and new buildings. Twenty-five tightly packed, ten-foot-high arches made of native limestone rise in a sunken courtyard. The artist was inspired by the fact that the sedimentary rock was formed when the region was a shallow sea in Prehistoric times.[16]

In 2021, the museum received a promised gift of 22 paintings and sculptures from the collection of the American curator and philanthropist Emily Rauh Pulitzer, the widow of the media heir Joseph Pulitzer Jr. The donation includes works by 17 European and American artists, including Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, Constantin Brâncuși, Joan Miró, Philip Guston, Ellsworth Kelly and others.[26]

Exhibitions

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

2010

Services

See also

More information

External links

Notes and References

  1. Saint Louis Art Museum Visitor Guide (2007)
  2. Library and Archives - Saint Louis Art Museum Web Site
  3. Web site: MUSEUM FOUNDATION . St Louis Art Museum . November 15, 2018.
  4. Saint Louis Art Museum Handbook of the Collection (2004), p. 8
  5. Web site: The St. Louis School and Museum of Fine Arts – Wellspring of St. Louis Arts. St. Louis Public Library. St. Louis Public Library. September 30, 2016.
  6. Stevens, Walter B. Page 30
  7. Saint Louis Art Museum Page 9-10
  8. Saint Louis Art Museum Handbook of the Collection (2004), p. 10
  9. Web site: About the collection Kemper Art Museum. kemperartmuseum.wustl.edu. 2015-12-11.
  10. News: St. Louis School of Fine Arts . 22 June 2021 . St. Louis Globe Democraft . 20 September 1909.
  11. News: Edmund H. Wuerpel Dies in East at 91 . 22 June 2021 . St. Louis Post-Dispatch . 25 February 1958.
  12. At that time, the museum considered its birth year to be 1909. See: An American museum : a memento of the film. Friends of the City Art Museum, 1962.
  13. Saint Louis Art Museum, An Architectural History, (1987), Page 26
  14. Saint Louis Art Museum Handbook of the Collection (2004), pp. 4–16
  15. David Itzkoff (November 6, 2008), In Tough Times, St. Louis Museum Delays Expansion New York Times.
  16. Javier Pes (June 20, 2013), A ‘quiet and reserved’ new wing for Saint Louis Art Museum The Art Newspaper.
  17. Web site: Saint Louis Art Museum: Expansion . Slam.org . 2012-10-14.
  18. Web site: Press release: New book will examine Saint Louis Art Museum's collection of paintings by Max Beckmann .
  19. Saint Louis Art Museum, Handbook of the Collection (2004), p. 299
  20. Washington University in St. Louis, Student Life, 2006
  21. Web site: Sauerwein . Kristina . CT scans offer a glimpse into lives of 3 Egyptian mummies . Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis . 8 February 2024 . en . 23 February 2018.
  22. News: Smith . Roberta . 2015-06-18 . Review: George Caleb Bingham's Serene Images of Rivers and Frontier Life, at the Met . en-US . The New York Times . 2022-05-26 . 0362-4331.
  23. Hunn, David. "How a French masterpiece stolen by Nazis came to St. Louis" http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/how-a-french-masterpiece-stolen-by-nazis-came-to-st/article_b0dee910-808f-5597-a8b3-5c8734742582.html St. Louis Post-Dispatch, February 22, 2014
  24. Stein, Laurie."The History and Reception of Matisse's Bathers with Turtle in Germany, 1908-1939" St. Louis: The Saint Louis Art Museum, 1998
  25. Web site: Saint Louis Art Museum: Collections. dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20160914220545/http://slam.org:8080/emuseum/view/objects/asitem/2492/271/title-desc?t:state:flow=05f6beb5-fe7f-488b-9b22-8dbe095bf295 . 2016-09-14 .
  26. Gabriella Angeleti (October 18, 2021), Saint Louis Art Museum receives 22 major works from American philanthropist The Art Newspaper.
  27. Web site: Buzz Spector: Alterations . 2023-01-25 . Saint Louis Art Museum . en-US.
  28. Web site: Storm of Progress: German Art After 1800 from the Saint Louis Art Museum . 2023-01-25 . Saint Louis Art Museum . en-US.
  29. Web site: Upcoming exhibition will highlight more than 200 years of German art . 2023-01-25 . Saint Louis Art Museum . en-US.
  30. Web site: Benjamin . Brent R. . 2020 . Audio Guides - Storm of Progress: German Art After 1800 from the Saint Louis Art Museum . Saint Louis Art Museum.
  31. Web site: Currents 118: Elias Sime . 2023-01-25 . Saint Louis Art Museum . en-US.
  32. Web site: Upcoming 'Currents 118' exhibition will feature new work by Elias Sime . 2023-01-25 . Saint Louis Art Museum . en-US.
  33. Web site: New Media Series: Martine Syms . 2023-01-25 . Saint Louis Art Museum . en-US.
  34. Web site: New Media Series will feature video by Martine Syms . 2023-01-25 . Saint Louis Art Museum . en-US.
  35. Web site: Large-Print Labels - Millet and Modern Art: From Van Gogh to Dalí . 2023-01-25 . Saint Louis Art Museum . en-US.
  36. Web site: Groundbreaking exhibition at the Saint Louis Art Museum explores Millet's legacy . 2023-01-25 . Saint Louis Art Museum . en-US.
  37. Web site: Benjamin . Brent R. . 2020 . Audio Guides - Millet and Modern Art: From Van Gogh to Dalí . Saint Louis Art Museum.
  38. Web site: New Media Series: Sky Hopinka . 2023-01-25 . Saint Louis Art Museum . en-US.
  39. Web site: Javanese Batik Textiles . 2023-01-25 . Saint Louis Art Museum . en-US.
  40. Web site: BAC Tour of Javanese Batik Textiles . 2023-01-25 . Saint Louis Art Museum . en-US.
  41. Web site: The Shape of Abstraction: Selections from the Ollie Collection . 2023-01-25 . Saint Louis Art Museum . en-US.
  42. Web site: The Shape of Abstraction: Selections from the Ollie Collection . 2023-01-25 . Saint Louis Art Museum . en-US.
  43. Web site: Currents 117: Dave Hullfish Bailey . 2023-01-25 . Saint Louis Art Museum . en-US.
  44. Web site: BAC Tour of Currents 117: Dave Hullfish Bailey . 2023-01-25 . Saint Louis Art Museum . en-US.
  45. Web site: New Media Series—Clarissa Tossin . 2023-01-25 . Saint Louis Art Museum . en-US.
  46. Web site: Dutch Painting in the Age of Rembrandt from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston . 2023-01-25 . Saint Louis Art Museum . en-US.
  47. Web site: Benjamin . Brent . 2019 . Audio Guides - Dutch Painting in the Age of Rembrandt from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston . Saint Louis Art Museum.
  48. Web site: Paul Gauguin: The Art of Invention . 2023-01-25 . Saint Louis Art Museum . en-US.
  49. Web site: Benjamin . Brent . 2019 . Audio Guides - Paul Gauguin: The Art of Invention . Saint Louis Art Museum.
  50. Web site: 2019 . The Bauhaus and its Legacy: Oskar Schlemmer's Triadic Ballet . Saint Louis Art Museum.
  51. Web site: Printing the Pastoral: Visions of the Countryside in 18th-Century Europe . 2023-01-25 . Saint Louis Art Museum . en-US.
  52. Web site: Poetics of the Everyday: Amateur Photography, 1890–1970 . 2023-01-25 . Saint Louis Art Museum . en-US.
  53. Web site: Rachel Whiteread . 2023-01-25 . Saint Louis Art Museum . en-US.
  54. Web site: New Media Series: Oliver Laric . 2023-01-25 . Saint Louis Art Museum . en-US.
  55. Web site: Currents 116: Oliver Laric . 2023-01-25 . Saint Louis Art Museum . en-US.
  56. Web site: Southwest Weavings: 800 Years of Artistic Exchange . 2023-01-25 . Saint Louis Art Museum . en-US.
  57. Web site: Printing Abstraction . 2023-01-25 . Saint Louis Art Museum . en-US.
  58. Web site: Graphic Revolution: American Prints 1960 to Now . 2023-01-25 . Saint Louis Art Museum . en-US.
  59. Web site: Benjamin . Brent . 2019 . Audio Guides - Graphic Revolution: American Prints 1960 to Now . Saint Louis Art Museum.
  60. Web site: Kehinde Wiley: Saint Louis . 2023-01-25 . Saint Louis Art Museum . en-US.
  61. Web site: New Media Series: Renée Green . 2023-01-25 . Saint Louis Art Museum . en-US.
  62. Web site: Balance and Opposition Exhibitions . 2023-01-25 . Saint Louis Art Museum . en-US.
  63. Web site: Currents 115 Exhibitions . 2023-01-25 . Saint Louis Art Museum . en-US.
  64. Web site: New Media Series: Cyprian Gaillard Exhibitions . 2023-01-25 . Saint Louis Art Museum . en-US.
  65. Web site: Benjamin . Brent . 2018 . Audio Guides - Sunken Cities: Egypt's Lost Worlds . Saint Lous Art Museum.
  66. Web site: Sunken Cities Exhibitions . 2023-01-25 . Saint Louis Art Museum . en-US.
  67. Web site: Chinese Buddhist Art Exhibitions . 2023-01-25 . Saint Louis Art Museum . en-US.
  68. Web site: Greek Island Embroideries Exhibitions . 2023-01-25 . Saint Louis Art Museum . en-US.
  69. Web site: Thomas Struth: Nature & Politics Exhibitions . 2023-01-25 . Saint Louis Art Museum . en-US.
  70. Web site: Currents 114 Exhibitions . 2023-01-25 . Saint Louis Art Museum . en-US.
  71. Web site: Ben Thorp Brown Exhibitions . 2023-01-25 . Saint Louis Art Museum . en-US.
  72. Web site: Fired Up Exhibitions . 2023-01-25 . Saint Louis Art Museum . en-US.
  73. Web site: A Century of Japanese Prints Exhibitions . 2023-01-25 . Saint Louis Art Museum . en-US.
  74. Web site: New Media Series: Amy Granat Exhibitions . 2023-01-25 . Saint Louis Art Museum . en-US.
  75. Web site: Reigning Men Exhibitions . 2023-01-25 . Saint Louis Art Museum . en-US.
  76. Web site: Cross Pollination Exhibitions . 2023-01-25 . Saint Louis Art Museum . en-US.
  77. Web site: Currents 113 Exhibitions . 2023-01-25 . Saint Louis Art Museum . en-US.
  78. Web site: The Hats of Stephen Jones Exhibitions . 2023-01-25 . Saint Louis Art Museum . en-US.
  79. Web site: New Media Series: Shimon Attie Exhibitions . 2023-01-25 . Saint Louis Art Museum . en-US.
  80. Web site: Learning to See Exhibitions . 2023-01-25 . Saint Louis Art Museum . en-US.
  81. Web site: In The Realm of Trees Exhibitions . 2023-01-25 . Saint Louis Art Museum . en-US.
  82. Web site: Degas, Impressionism, Millinery Exhibitions . 2023-01-25 . Saint Louis Art Museum . en-US.
  83. Web site: Benjain . Brent . 2017 . Audio Guides - Degas, Impressionism, and the Paris Millinery Trade . Saint Louis Art Museum.
  84. Web site: Torno . Jean Paul . 'The Weight of Things' . St. Louis Post Dispatch . 6 September 2013.
  85. Web site: RUSSELL . STEFENE . First Stop: "Currents 107: Renata Stih & Frieder Schnock" . St. Louis Magazine . 15 November 2013 . 15 November 2013.
  86. Web site: Saint Louis Art Museum curator revisits Monet's 'Water Lilies' . St. Louis Post Dispatch . 2 October 2011.
  87. Web site: Artful Happenings . The Healthy Planet.
  88. Web site: Willis . Holly . Martha Colburn: Triumph of the Wild . KCET . 11 February 2011 . 11 February 2011.
  89. Web site: Saint Louis Art Museum Presents Fiery Pool: The Maya and the Mythic Sea . Art Fix Daily . 6 January 2011.
  90. Web site: MOYNIHAN . MIRIAM . Saint Louis Art Museum shows series of Kentridge prints . St. Louis Dispatch . 25 Feb 2011.
  91. Web site: Media Series by William Kentridge at St. Louis Museum . Art Daily.
  92. Web site: Portrait of Depression-Era America . Saint Louis Art Museum.
  93. Web site: Wilson . Calvin . Artist Bill Viola explores life, death in video installation . St. Louis Today . 25 June 2010.
  94. Web site: Fisher . David . Currents 104: Bruce Yonemoto . Highsnobiety . 4 May 2010.
  95. Web site: Baran . Jessica . Featured Review: Lee Friedlander . Riverfront Times.
  96. Web site: Marc Swanson . Saatchi Gallery.
  97. Web site: Library and Archives . slam.org . 2024-01-04 .

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