St. Louis Gallery Devotes Entire Space to Edward E. Boccia Retrospective

Philip Slein Gallery has filled every room with work by Edward E. Boccia. The exhibition, titled Edward E. Boccia: An American Modernist, opened with a reception from 5 to 8 p.m. on Oct. 23. It runs through Dec. 19 at the gallery located at 4735 McPherson Avenue in the Central West End.

The gallery owner, Philip Slein, said the show is a major undertaking for the space. Slein noted that the gallery has rarely devoted its entire floor to a single artist in its 23-year history. He described the exhibition as substantial, stating that only an institutional venue could host a larger display.

Boccia lived in St. Louis for six decades. He was born in New Jersey in 1921 to Italian parents. He served in the World War II Ghost Army and studied at the Pratt Institute and the Art Students League in New York. After returning from the war, he earned degrees from Columbia University.

He taught at the Columbus Art School in Ohio, where he introduced Bauhaus principles to his students. In 1951, he joined the faculty at Washington University in St. Louis. He remained there for more than 30 years and retired in 1986 as a professor emeritus.

Rosa Berland, an art historian and curator based in New York, characterized Boccia's teaching style as rigorous yet encouraging. She said he allowed students to find their own creative direction. Boccia produced thousands of paintings during his lifetime. He continued creating art until his death in 2012 at age 91.

Slein recalled that Boccia worked constantly. He said, "If he wasn't sleeping or eating, he was drawing." The current exhibition features more than 30 of these paintings. The front room displays large-scale pieces, including the nine-panel polyptych "Eugene's Journey" and the 2004 triptych "David's Death," which reflects on the loss of Boccia's son.

A hallway section shows mythic scenes featuring ocean journeys and figures with inner light. The final room contains a salon wall that traces Boccia's artistic evolution. This wall spans from a 1950s portrait to a work painted in 2012, shortly before his death. The works reference influences such as Paul Cézanne, Pablo Picasso, René Magritte, Renaissance masters, and Max Beckmann.

Hirmer will publish a companion book during the exhibition. Titled Edward E. Boccia: Painter of Nightmares and Dreams, it is the first major monograph on the artist. Berland wrote the book after 14 years of research. It includes dozens of images, fold-out plates, and scholarly essays.

Berland described Boccia as a polymath who studied philosophy, theology, psychoanalysis, and history. She noted that he did not want his work to be formulaic. A pamphlet for the show includes the artist's instruction: "Don't worry about what my art means. Just experience it." Berland also identified Morton D. May as Boccia's greatest patron. She described the artist's journey as the story of a young man from New York who found success in St. Louis.