Slein Gallery hosts full-space Boccia retrospective
The Central West End venue uses all three rooms for the first major monograph exhibition of the late St. Louis modernist.
By Chinedu Schneider ·
Philip Slein Gallery in the Central West End has occupied its entire floor plan for a single artist for the first time in 23 years. The exhibition, titled Edward E. Boccia: An American Modernist, opens with a reception from 5 to 8 p.m. on October 23. It runs through December 19.
The gallery at 4735 McPherson typically limits individual shows to its front room. For this survey, owner Philip Slein expanded the display to include a hallway and a final room. He described the show as the largest he has hosted, noting that only an institutional setting could surpass its scope.
Boccia was born in New Jersey in 1921 to Italian parents. He served in the World War II Ghost Army before earning degrees from Columbia University. He taught at the Columbus Art School in Ohio, where he introduced Bauhaus principles to his students.
He joined Washington University in St. Louis in 1951 and remained there for more than three decades. He retired in 1986 as a professor emeritus. Art historian Rosa Berland, who is based in New York, characterized his teaching style as rigorous but open to students finding their own creative voice.
Boccia produced thousands of paintings during his career. His work ranged from small seaside scenes to monumental multi-panel pieces. He continued working until his death in 2012 at age 91. Slein said the artist was drawing whenever he was not sleeping or eating.
The exhibition features more than 30 paintings. The front room displays large-scale works, including the nine-panel polyptych Eugene's Journey and the 2004 triptych David's Death. A hallway contains mythic ocean scenes, while the final room traces his evolution from the 1950s to 2012. Influences from Cézanne, Picasso, Magritte, and Max Beckmann appear throughout the show.
A companion book titled Edward E. Boccia: Painter of Nightmares and Dreams will be published by Hirmer during the exhibition. Berland wrote the text after 14 years of research. It is the first major monograph on the artist and includes fold-out plates to show the scale of his multi-panel works. She credited Morton D. May as Boccia's greatest patron.
Berland described Boccia as a polymath who studied philosophy, theology, and psychoanalysis. She noted that he did not want his art to be didactic. A pamphlet for the show advises viewers to experience the work without worrying about its specific meaning. She stated that the work matters now because it demands engagement on several levels.
Source: St. Louis Magazine
