April 14—July 9, 2023
Gallery 235 and the Sidney S. and Sadie M. Cohen Gallery 234
New to the Museum: Prints, Drawings, and Photographs
Mirroring the global nature the Museum, this exhibition features recent acquisitions spanning 500 years and reflecting a range of media and cultures. Since 2016, more than 2,400 works of art on paper have entered the Saint Louis Art Museum’s collection. The artworks on view in these two galleries represent only a fraction of these never-before-seen prints, drawings, and photographs acquired through both purchase and gift.
From an early 16th century woodcut of a Franciscan monk to a 2017 digital inkjet print of the Iroquois spiritual realm created within a virtual platform, the variety and diversity among these works showcases the extraordinary range of creative expression in the graphic arts. Some of the artworks on view build on areas of existing strength within the Museum while others intentionally increase the representation of Black, Indigenous, and women artists in the collection.
New to the Museum: Prints, Drawings, and Photographs celebrates these new additions to the collection as well as the varied ways these artworks were acquired. How did the works make their way to the Museum? How do they complement or expand the collection? In many cases the backstories illuminate fascinating local connections, and feature ties to people, places, and history unique to the St. Louis region.
Works on paper that are not currently on display may be viewed in the study room for prints, drawings, and photographs. Schedule an appointment at slam.org.
Norval Morrisseau,
Anishinaabe, Canadian, 1931–2007
My Future Offspring, 1975
screenprint
printed by Great Grasslands Graphics, Winnipeg, Canada
Thick black lines surround varying shades of red, green, and blue in this print of a small child wearing a headdress. The bold style is characteristic of Norval Morrisseau, one of the most significant contemporary Canadian First Nations artists. Morrisseau found inspiration in longstanding Ojibwe visual practices that recorded religious knowledge. A deeply spiritual individual, he often explained his art in a similar manner. As the title suggests, the artist, who was a father to seven children, was perhaps imagining his grandchildren or future descendants with this work.
Gift of Dr. Garry and Bonnie Vickar 5:2016
Laura Letinsky,
Canadian, born 1962
Untitled #49, 2002
archival pigment print
published by The Renaissance Society, University of Chicago, Illinois
A cup and tray with a bowl of decaying peaches balances at the edge of a narrow table. Displayed with half-eaten bits of food and a stained tablecloth, the overall scene suggests the remnants of a meal. The print is a contemporary take on the centuries-old western European tradition of still-life painting. Such works are often opulent yet symbolic compositions reminding viewers of the fleeting nature of earthly pleasures. Examples of still-life painting in the Museum’s collection are on view in nearby European Galleries 202 and 238.
Gift of John L. and Katie MacCarthy 110:2022.11
Emma Amos,
American, 1938–2020
To Sit (with Pochoir), 1981
etching, aquatint, and styrene stencil
printed by Kathy Caraccio, American, born 1947
Two women recline comfortably against a patterned textile. Emma Amos cut the printing plate to draw particular attention to their bodily presence by outlining a knee, elbows, shoulders, and hair. In an act that fragments and completes the composition, she sliced the plate in half, leaving a thin line of paper as a bright juncture between the figures. Adding another layer, she used a stencil technique called pochoir to apply the color by hand. These experiments with artistic process brought visible form to Amos’s larger project of reclaiming and expanding the representation of Black bodies. This print is the first by Amos to enter the Museum’s collection.
The Sidney S. and Sadie Cohen Print Purchase Fund 100:2022
Ellsworth Kelly,
American, 1923–2015
Colored Paper Image IX (Four Grays with Black I), 1976
colored and pressed paper pulp
fabricated by HMP Paper Mill, Woodstock, Connecticut printed by the artist and Tyler Graphics, Bedford, New York
published by Tyler Graphics, Bedford, New York
The five stripes of gray and black in this work were produced by spooning custom-mixed colored paper pulp into metal molds laid out on a damp sheet of handmade white paper. The pulp was then adhered to the sheet using a vertical press, resulting in the blurred outlines that distinguish this series from Ellsworth Kelly’s characteristically sharp lines. Kelly worked with numerous printer-publishers during his career, regularly testing the boundaries of what a print could be.
Gift of Judith Weiss Levy in honor of Emily Rauh Pulitzer 177:2022
Fred Becker,
American, 1913–2004
Pulled Forms, 1949
linocut and woodcut
To create this print, Fred Becker cut designs into blocks of wood and linoleum and then layered them in different colors. The forms teeter between identifiable figures and abstract shapes, a duality that characterized much of his art.
After training in print workshops in New York, Becker arrived at Washington University in St. Louis in 1948. During the 20 years that he worked and taught there, he established a printmaking department that continues to thrive today. This work and others were gifted to the Museum by the artist’s daughter, who grew up in St. Louis.
Gift of Carla Becker 397:2021
Walter Gramatté,
German, 1897–1929
Woman Writing (Sonia Gramatté), 1922
watercolor and graphite
This watercolor captures Walter Gramatté’s wife Sonia (see image) deep in thought over her writing. She was an accomplished composer and performer of modern works for violin and piano, so perhaps the pages before her are sheets of music. The gramophone behind her further emphasizes Sonia’s musical interests.
Gramatté began his art studies between multiple tours of active duty in World War I (1914–1918). He was aligned with the German Expressionists, the progressive artists of the time, and produced a compelling body of paintings, drawings, and prints in his short life. His wife’s estate donated a group of over 30 prints, drawings, and illustrated books to the Museum in 2019.
Gift of The Eckhardt-Gramatté Foundation, Winnipeg, Canada 120:2019
Sophie-Carmen and Walter Gramatte Wedding Photograph, December 31, 1920; The Eckhardt-Gramatte Foundation, Winnipeg
Janet Fish,
American, born 1938
Tulips and Teacups, 1982
lithograph
printed and published by Tamarind Institute, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque
I see light as energy, and energy is always moving through us.
—Janet Fish
Light flows through the larger-than-life objects in Janet Fish’s Tulips and Teacups. It animates the tulip petals and the translucent Depression-glass teacups, which reflect the yellow curtain in the background. Although Fish came of age as a painter at the height of 20th-century abstract and conceptually-driven art movements, she quickly gravitated toward still life as her subject. Women artists—and their often realist themes—have been undervalued historically by the dominant art world.
Gift of Alvin and Ruth Siteman 707:2018
Daniel Hopfer,
German, about 1470–1536
The Franciscan Friar Pelbart of Temesvár Reading in a Garden, 1502
woodcut and letterpress
printed by Johann Otmar, German, active 1482–1514
This illustration once served as the title page in a book of sermons on feasts of the saints, or Pomerium de sanctis. The image likely depicts its author, Ossvald Pelbart (1430–1504) of Temesvár (present-day Timişoara, Romania). The print’s luminosity is a result of the less common white-line woodcut technique, in which the design is incised directly into the wood. When inked, the surface of the block prints as black, while the white of the paper appears where the lines were incised. This unusual example was noticed in a dealer’s inventory by art historian, collector, and native St. Louisan, Mark S. Weil.
Funds given by Mark S. Weil and Joan Hall-Weil in honor of Brent R. Benjamin 33:2021
Ian Weaver,
American, born 1970
The Black Knights Enter the Bottom, 2010
collage with acrylic ink and Flasche
This collage is one of a group of artworks, including textiles and armor, created by Ian Weaver to celebrate the fictional Black Knights. Weaver imagined these Knights in response to the 1950s destruction of the Black Bottom, an African American neighborhood in Chicago.
As an artist, Weaver builds narratives that play with existing imagery, such as the Black Panther on the banner at lower left, but take on a life of their own. He received his master of fine arts degree from nearby Washington University in St. Louis in 2008 and exhibited at the Museum in 2010. This is his first work to enter the collection.
Gift of Carla and Cleophus Thomas Jr. 28:2022
Anne Allen,
English (active France), active 1750–after 1808
after Jean-Baptiste Pillement, French, 1728–1808
New Suite of Notebooks of Chinese Designs for the Use of Designers and Painters, about 1796–98 set of 5 color etchings
Despite the inclusion of the word “Chinese” in the title of this print series, the designs reflect instead a European-filtered mutation. Printed in color, the floating architectural and vegetal forms serve as a stage for anonymized and often stereotyped figures. These fantastical forms of decoration termed “chinoiserie” were popular, especially in 18th-century France and England. Found everywhere from wallpaper to vases, such designs invited European viewers to reduce and conflate multilayered specifics of Chinese culture to a generalized Asian “other” for visual appeal and enjoyment.
The Marian Cronheim Trust for Prints and Drawings and Museum Purchase 122:2016.1-.5
Giambattista Tiepolo,
Italian, 1696–1770
A Man in a Turban, Seen from Behind, about 1745–50
red chalk, heightened with white chalk, on blue paper
Funds given by Opal and Arthur H. Meyer Jr. 15:2020
Giambattista Tiepolo, Italian, 1696–1770
with the assistance of his son Giandomenico Tiepolo, Italian, 1727–1804
The Crucifixion, 1745–50
oil on canvas
Seen from behind, the figure sketched in red chalk is a study for the man at the lower left of The Crucifixion. The original blue of the paper has faded considerably, but it is still possible to understand how Giambattista Tiepolo used it as a mid-tone to convey three-dimensional form.
In the context of the broader composition, it becomes possible to read this turbaned figure as a witness to the death of Jesus. His head covering and garments would have marked him as a familiar outsider to 18th-century Venetian audiences with a long history of contact with the Ottoman Empire (1299–1922). Paired this way, the drawing tells a story about Tiepolo’s focus and thinking in relationship to the painting.
Museum Purchase 10:1940
Leslie J. Laskey,
American, 1921–2021
Highlands and Highlands II, mid-1960s
woodcuts
The 1940s-era Highlands roller coaster was once the centerpiece of a nearby amusement park, which stood on the current site of St. Louis Community College – Forest Park. Leslie Laskey’s pair of energetically abstracted woodcuts memorialized the structure in the mid-1960s, following a destructive fire that led to the Highlands’ demise.
Laskey taught design at Washington University in St. Louis from 1956 to 1987, and remained a fixture in the local art world until his death in 2021, just short of turning 100. These woodcuts were donated to the Museum as a tribute to Laskey on the occasion of this exceptional birthday.
Gift of Yvette Drury Dubinsky and John Paul Dubinsky, Bill and Gina Wischmeyer, Dennis Cope, and Frank Schwaiger, in honor of Leslie J. Laskey’s 100th birthday 47–48:2021
Michael Lenson,
American (born Russia), 1903–1971
Study for “Where Are We Now?”, about 1949
graphite, ink, and collage of cut paper and tracing paper
In this dangerous wasteland of mangled industrial structures, starving and injured people are trapped or toiling amidst the ruins. Michael Lenson demonstrated his exceptional skill as a draftsman as he imagined the aftermath of nuclear war through apocalyptic imagery. In the lower right corner, Lenson included an artist with an easel, perhaps presenting himself as a bystander and observer of the tragedy unfolding here.
This drawing is a study for a painting in the Museum’s collection, Where Are We Now?, which was donated by the same collectors. The artist and easel do not appear in the final painting, though many other significant elements of the study are present (see image).
Gift of John and Susan Horseman 302:2021
Michael Lenson, American (born Russia), 1903–1971; Where Are We Now?, c.1949; oil on canvas; 56 x 36 inches; Saint Louis Art Museum, Gift of John and Susan Horseman, in honor of Melissa Wolfe, Curator of American Art 103:2019; © Estate of Michael Lenson
Dirck Volkertszoon Coornhert,
Netherlandish, 1522–1590
after Maarten van Heemskerck, Dutch, 1498–1574
The Apostle Paul Baptizing in Ephesus, 1553
engraving
published by Hieronymus Cock, Antwerp
A group of sparsely clad men gathers in muscular poses around a haloed St. Paul. According to the biblical book of Acts, 12 men were baptized by Paul in the Greek city of Ephesus. The nudity seen here is unlikely to mirror the historical event. Rather, Maarten van Heemskerck, the Dutch artist who designed this composition, was displaying his knowledge of ancient Greek and Roman sculpture as well as the contemporary Italian art of Michelangelo (1475–1564), both of which he had studied in Rome in the 1530s.
Gift of Joan M. Hall in loving memory of her husband, Mark Steinberg Weil 14:2022
Félix Hilaire Buhot,
French, 1847–1898
The Return of the Artists, 1877
etching, drypoint, and aquatint
A crowd of artists walks down the rain-soaked Avenue des Champs-Élysées after submitting their artworks to the 1877 Paris Salon, a prominent government-sanctioned annual exhibition. Félix Hilaire Buhot himself showed 13 etchings in the Salon that year. This print demonstrates Buhot’s experimental approach to printmaking, combining etching, drypoint, and aquatint; the latter was used to create the atmospheric effect of cloudy, overcast skies. Buhot was revered as an etching master in the late 19th century due to his technical skill and his intriguing depictions of everyday street scenes around Paris.
Longtime Museum docent Mary V. Longrais and her husband, Dr. Antonio I. Longrais, owned this print as part of their collection. Their daughter, also a long-serving Museum docent, gifted it to the Museum in 2021.
Gift of Marisa Longrais Human 380:2021
Adger Cowans,
American, born 1936
Black Umbrellas, 1961, possibly printed later
gelatin silver print
Four women dressed in black, carrying umbrellas to match, trudge through the snow on a Harlem street. One woman turns her head toward the camera, playfully acknowledging the photographer. The graphic use of black and white creates a visceral experience of this wintery day.
Adger Cowans chronicled everyday occurrences in New York City, building upon his experiences as a film still photographer and former assistant to Life magazine photographer Gordon Parks (1912–2006). In 1963 he was a founding member of the Kamoinge Workshop, a collective of African American photographers that is still active today.
The Thelma and Bert Ollie Memorial Collection, Gift of Ronald and Monique Ollie 133:2017
Ken Light,
American, born 1951
On the Stoop, St. Louis, Missouri, 1971
gelatin silver print
In this image, family members rest on the front stairway of a tenement building in the St. Louis neighborhood of Soulard. The view provides a glimpse into everyday life under conditions of racial and economic inequality in the 1970s. It was taken when Ken Light was only 21 years old and at the start of his career. Now a photojournalism professor at the University of California, Berkeley, Light’s daughter recently donated this and six other works to the Museum.
Gift of Allison Light 31:2021
Attributed to John Payne Jennings,
English, 1843–1926
Dargle River, Ireland, about 1867
albumen print from glass negative
Anchored by an imposing boulder, this photograph draws the viewer into the scene with exquisitely rendered textures and tones. The locale’s rugged wildness is communicated through the tangle of tree limbs and craggy rocks, contrasting with the silky appearance of the water—the result of a long exposure time. This sort of visual variety was prized in landscape photography of the mid-19th century, contributing to a growing market of armchair tourism which brought images from distant places into the homes of the urban middle class.
Gift of David R. Hanlon 180:2019
Aaron Siskind,
American, 1903–1991
Martha’s Vineyard Rocks 107A, 1954,
printed later
gelatin silver print
This photograph frames a section of the historic stone walls built on the Massachusetts island of Martha’s Vineyard. While the composition seems to teeter on disorder, Aaron Siskind found a visual balance—not just in the arrangement of rocks, but in the distribution of solid and void. Such images helped pioneer an innovative direction in landscape photography, which expanded the expressive possibilities of work in black and white. This work is one of hundreds given by the same St. Louis donors, bolstering the Museum’s representation of 20th-century American photography.
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Ronald K. Greenberg 348:2020
Emmet Gowin,
American, born 1941
Nuclear Test Craters on Yucca Flat, Area 10, Nevada Test Site, 1996, printed 1997
toned gelatin silver print
Several craters fill this arid landscape. These remnants of nuclear testing were caused by underground explosions that forced the ground above to collapse. Emmet Gowin, the only photographer permitted to document the Nevada National Security Test Site, took dozens of pictures of this area on three helicopter flights between 1996 and 1997. Gowin’s use of toning deepens the shadows in the craters and emphasizes the dystopian desolation of the site. With such images, Gowin navigates the tension between photographing something terrible and creating something beautiful out of it.
Gift of M. Teresa Simao 14:2021
Emil Otto Hoppé,
English (born Germany), 1878–1972
Grand Canyon, Arizona, 1926
gelatin silver print
This view of Grand Canyon rock formations stemmed from Emil Otto Hoppé’s extensive cross-country travels. Hoppé journeyed primarily by automobile—a difficult undertaking in 1926—setting a precedent for road trip photography for decades to come. His photographic survey resulted in his book Romantic America: Picturesque United States, which ambitiously sought to encapsulate the landscapes of the sprawling country. Along with 32 other prints, this work was donated by former Museum curator Phillip Prodger who had special access to Hoppé’s archive. These are rare, one-of-a-kind photographs since they were created expressly for book reproduction.
Gift of Phillip Prodger and April Swieconek 186:2015
Ray K. Metzker,
American, 1931–2014
top to bottom, left to right:
73 IX-38
73 GL-43A
75 BG-26A
75 CN-40
from the series Sand Creatures, 1973
4 vintage gelatin silver prints
These images of beachgoers on the Atlantic City shore are part of a series by Ray Metzker, which he playfully titled Sand Creatures (1968–1977). Metzker was attracted to the particular way the human body was surrounded by sand and animated by bright sunlight. His approach resonates with a host of amateur photographers who came before him, bringing their cameras along to summer outings to document moments of leisure. These bodies at rest yield unguarded poses and gestures, while unexpected moments of beauty emerged from unusual perspectives and framing.
The Museum has, in recent years, collected the work of amateur photographers more actively. These examples by Metzker suggest new ways in which approaches to fine art photography and vernacular photography, made for personal use, may be seen in dialogue.
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Ronald K. Greenberg 151, 149, 161, and 158:2022
Unknown
top to bottom:
Untitled (Seascape), about 1910s
Untitled (Man, Small Girl, and Buggy in Lake), about 1895
Cyanotypes
Above, gentle waves roll towards the shore of Bodie Island in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Below, standing ankle-deep in a lake, a man leans down to tinker with the wheel of his buggy. A young girl splashes playfully nearby in the shallow water.
The recognizable Prussian-blue color of cyanotypes lends itself well to these images of water, as it naturally mimics the hue of lake water and the Atlantic Ocean. Cyanotypes are made using a quick and inexpensive printing process that was accessible to amateurs and enabled them to produce interesting images. A new focus on collecting vernacular, or non-fine-art, photography has brought more cyanotypes into the Museum’s collection in recent years.
Gift of Peter J. Cohen in honor of Laura T. Cohen 130 and 268:2018
Napachie Ashoona Pootoogook,
Inuk, 1938–2002
Sea Spirits, 1964
stonecut
printed by Iyola Kingwatsiak, Inuk, 1933–2000
Here a sea goddess and her children, with outstretched arms and seal or walrus tails, swim toward the left. Their bodies seem to reflect shimmering ocean waves, ranging from deep navy to turquoise—the color of glacial melt. Long fibers in the Japanese paper of this print float around them like fragments of sea life. The spirit world is a common subject for Inuit artists, as is contemporary life.
Gift of Susanne S. Renner and Robert E. Ricklefs 6:2022
Pudlo Pudlat,
Inuk, 1916–1992
Spirit Watching Games, 1964
stonecut
printed by Lukta Qiatsuq, Inuk, 1928–2004
A spirit in the form of an owl watches two men immediately before or after a competition. Some popular Inuit games include Ear Pull, One Foot High Kick, Kneel Jump, Airplane, and Knuckle Hop. These contests develop survival skills such as endurance, strength, and dexterity, and continue today among Inuit youth and through international Arctic competitions. The artist combined important markers of his culture in this image: a social activity, caribou or sealskin parkas, and spiritual beliefs to celebrate his Indigenous heritage.
Gift of Susanne S. Renner and Robert E. Ricklefs 5:2022
Sam Gilliam, American, 1933–2022
Ben II, 1999
James Surls, American, born 1943
Blue in Hand, 2000
lithographs
printed by Jeffrey Sippel, American, born 1953 published by Gallery 210, University of Missouri, St. Louis, Missouri
Ben II captures Sam Gilliam’s experiments with color in a print. The red bar in the lower center of the composition stands out against a saturated yellow background. Teal and black ink drips and pools all over the surface, conveying weight throughout the bright print.
James Surls’ lithograph Blue in Hand expresses an attraction to raw materials often evident in his sculptures. His twisting lines are reminiscent of tree branches, suggesting an abstract depiction of nature. The inner eye symbol found in many of his works relates to transcendental philosophy, which promotes oneness with our environment. Both lithographs were published by Gallery 210 at the University of Missouri-St. Louis during the tenure of former director Terry Suhre.
Gift of the Curators of the University of Missouri on behalf of the University of Missouri-St. Louis 3 and 5:2021
Burhan Doğançay,
Turkish (active United States), 1929–2013
More is Less, from the series Grego’s Walls, 1992
stonecut
gouache, collage, sand, and Krylon spray on paper
At first this work appears to be a bright abstraction anchored by colorful brick shapes. Closer inspection gradually reveals a multi-layered, visual time capsule of the 1990s New York City art scene. Turkish-born artist Burhan Doğançay focused on walls, which he said “provide a mirror of their respective neighborhoods.” Colorful graffiti painted by artist Grego in SoHo, the New York City art gallery neighborhood, inspired this collage. Fragments of two satirical art-world cartoons by Jonah Kinigstein (lower left and upper right) exist alongside a poster headlining an avant-garde filmmaker, an artist and actor, and an art historian (center left).
Gift of Angela Doğançay 678:2018
Lamerol A. Gatewood,
American, born 1954
Untitled No. 2012-010, from The Energy Series, 2012
charcoal, acrylic, and oil on paper
Abstract patterns drawn in charcoal and acrylic decorate five overlapping, organically shaped sheets of paper in this collage by St. Louis native Lamerol A. Gatewood. To create The Energy Series, Gatewood made several separate works on paper, then cut or tore them into pieces to use for collaging. In this mixed media series, he explored new modes of abstract expression through shape and color. His deep interest in music permeates through his practice, inspiring the pulsating, rhythmic qualities of his art.
Gift of the Lawrence M. Hilton Foundation 174:2022
Mavis Pusey,
American (born Jamaica), 1928–2019
Demolishment, about 1970
screenprint with graphite additions
Demolishment captures the essence of transition and decay in urban architecture. The Jamaican-born artist, Mavis Pusey, spoke of her inspiration in “the energy and beat of the construction and demolition of these buildings.” Moving between painting and printmaking, she developed her technical skills between 1969 and 1971 at Robert Blackburn’s Printmaking Workshop, a longstanding, cooperative printmaking space in New York City. In this work, Pusey made the unusual choice to enhance this hard-edged screenprint with precisely ruled, hand-drawn graphite lines.
Pusey’s work builds on the Museum’s strength in abstract art by Black artists established by the 2017 gift of the Thelma and Bert Ollie Memorial Collection, which was celebrated in The Shape of Abstraction exhibition in 2019. A catalogue from that exhibition is available in this gallery.
The Sidney S. and Sadie Cohen Print Purchase Fund 90:2019
Wendy Red Star,
Apsáalooke (Crow), born 1981
Silver Rez Car on Electric Blue Background Red Rez Truck on Mint Green Background Maroon Rez House on Chartreuse Background Light Blue Rez House on Peach Background from the series Reservation Pop, 2017
4 photographic prints and satin
Wendy Red Star photographed these images of rundown cars and houses at the Crow Indian Reservation in Montana where she grew up. The broken-down automobiles and government-built housing suggest poverty. Yet by cutting the images out and placing them on colored satin, Red Star animates them in a way that undermines their stereotypical reading. In addition, the satin fabric—often worn as underdresses by Apsáalooke women during special events—conveys a sense of intimacy that Red Star associates with the cultural richness she experienced on her reservation.
The Museum has developed a strong relationship with Red Star; she has been involved in installations, public programs, and acquisitions in the past decade. These works not only contribute to a new focus of collection-building around contemporary Indigenous artists, but also represent a unique synthesis of photography and the textile arts.
Gift of Loren G. Lipson, M.D. 488, 490, 491, and 492:2018
Emmet Gowin,
American, born 1941
Edith and Moth Flight, 2000, printed 2001
gelatin silver print
Taken at night in the Central American tropics, this ethereal image features Emmet Gowin’s wife, Edith. Framing her out-of-focus face are the sweeping lines of moths in flight behind her. Gowin used an ultraviolet light to attract the moths and discovered that the light’s pulse closely matched their wing stroke, revealing the arcs of each wing. The Museum has maintained a close relationship with Gowin, beginning with the exhibition The Weight of Things in 2014 and extending to recent gifts of his work that he helped arrange.
Gift of M. Teresa Simao 17:2021
Stephanie Syjuco,
American (born Philippines), born 1974
Total Transparency Filter (Portrait of N), 2017
archival pigment print
In this print, a seated figure is draped in a checkered cloth. The pattern is the default background of the image-manipulation software Photoshop—the transparency filter to which the title refers. The subject was a student in the federal government’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. Through this work Stephanie Syjuco, a Filipino-American artist, comments on the uncertain position of immigrants in the United States, primarily their risk of being made invisible. Syjuco uses fabric props to complicate the legibility of the photographic image, defying expectations of what a studio portrait should convey.
Funds given by Margery Campbell Fort and Jeffrey T. Fort; Gift of Stephen Bunyard, by exchange 91:2019
Xenobia Bailey,
American, born 1955
Urban Mystic II, 2016
linocut
printed and published by Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop, New York, New York
A Black woman in profile wears an extravagant, tiered headpiece in this print. Fiber artist Xenobia Bailey skillfully depicted textural variations in the print that mimic her elaborate crocheted hats, costumes, and large-scale installations (see image). Gouges in the linoleum printing block suggest patterns that form the structure of the hat, with its protruding three-dimensional shapes and decorative beads and shells.
For this work, Bailey collaborated with the renowned EFA Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop in New York. The workshop notably recruits artists from diverse backgrounds and media to explore the possibilities of printmaking, offering them access to the studio and equipment.
Gift of Richard Gerrig and Timothy Peterson 10:2017
Xenobia Bailey, American, born 1958; Mojo Medicine Hat (Wind), 1999; 4-ply acrylic, cotton yarn, lacquer; circumference at rim: 23 inches; © Xenobia Bailey
Sulaymân al-Hakîm,
Syrian, active about 1890–1913
Bedouin with camels, outside Damascus, about 1893–95
albumen print from glass negative
Three Arabic nomadic people, known as Bedouin, pose in their flowing robes with their camels for the Syrian photographer, Sulaymân al-Hakîm. While European photographers have passed through the important trading hub of Damascus since the mid-19th century, al-Hakîm was likely the first Arab photographer to set up a studio there. His body of work yielded an important insider perspective on the city and its environs. Here, Al-Hakîm’s image depicts the lifestyle of those who had historically inhabited the eastern Syrian desert regions and would soon confront change in the 20th century.
Gift of David R. Hanlon 91:2022
Roger Fenton,
English, 1819–1869
Furness Abbey, from the south end, 1856
albumen print from glass negative
Roger Fenton’s broad panorama captures the remains of Great Britain’s largest and most architecturally elaborate monastic complex, Furness Abbey. The massive building is shown partially reclaimed by the surrounding landscape. With visiting tourists on the grounds, the photograph reflects the romantic appeal of ruins during the 19th century.
Fenton is one of the most celebrated pioneers of photography. This photograph is part of a recent donation of several hundred works by a St. Louis donor. The generous gift enriches the Museum’s holdings in the early history of the photographic medium.
Gift of David R. Hanlon in honor of Eric Lutz, PhD 29:2022
Lady Lucy Caroline Bridgeman,
English, 1826–1858
Victoria Windsor-Clive, about 1856–57
albumen print from glass negative
Victoria Windsor-Clive, a close relative of the artist, appears here in fashionable attire. The structural quality of her dress and her austere pose enhance the strength and presence of this small image.
Lady Lucy Caroline Bridgeman belonged to a family of English nobility. An aristocratic upbringing often enabled amateurs, especially noblewomen, to practice the expensive and time-consuming art of photography in the mid-19th century. This image is significant since it is the earliest work by a woman photographer to enter the Museum’s collection.
Gift of David R. Hanlon 168:2019
Mary Cassatt,
American (active France), 1844–1926
Nurse and Baby Bill (No. 2), about 1889–90
softground etching and aquatint
A young woman holds a baby in her lap as he presses his cheek against hers. Scenes of women and children are hallmarks of Mary Cassatt’s work. Yet the title reveals that this is not a mother and her child but rather a female caregiver and a little boy. Despite their close physical proximity, both the woman and the baby look away, suggesting a psychological distance from each other. By portraying the figures in this manner, Cassatt emphasized the common practice of domestic assistance in upper-class French households.
The Sidney S. and Sadie Cohen Print Purchase Fund 201:2019
Guido Reni,
Italian, 1575–1642
The Holy Family, about 1590s
Etching
In this relaxed, intimate depiction of the Holy Family, Mary, Jesus, and Joseph engage in each other’s company. The drawing-like medium of etching appealed to Guido Reni, an in-demand painter of altarpieces and gallery pictures. The popularity of such etchings reflected a growing identification of an artist’s genius with the act of the hand. This led to a celebration of drawing—and etching—as the opportunity to see an artist’s thoughts in motion in the lines directly from their hand.
Gift of an anonymous donor in memory of Margaret James Neilson 13:2019
Max Beckmann, German, 1884–1950
Quappi with Violin, 1930
gouache and pastel on paper
Max Beckmann’s dramatically lit portrait of his violinist wife, Quappi, stands out against a silvery background. The two burning candles of this drawing suggest a vital life force, in contrast with his symbolically charged still-life painting (see image) made soon after the Beckmanns arrived in St. Louis in 1947. There, one candle burns while a second lies extinguished on its side, referencing life and death and emphasizing the thin line between the two.
The gift of this drawing, which builds on the Museum’s extensive holdings of Beckmann’s work, has a St. Louis connection. The donor, David Strauss, is a St. Louis native who inherited it from a family friend. That friend had worked in the New York City art market and received the drawing from Quappi herself.
Gift of David and Dhera Strauss 15:2022
Max Beckmann, German, 1884–1950; Still Life with Two Large Candles, 1947; oil on canvas; 43 x 31 inches; Saint Louis Art Museum, Bequest of Morton D. May 858:1983
Carlo Maratti,
Italian, 1625–1713 after Raphael, Italian, 1483–1520
Heliodorus Chased from the Temple, 1650–1713
Etching
The dramatic arched shape of this print mirrors that of Raphael’s wall fresco, completed in 1512, in the Vatican’s papal apartments (see image). Working almost a century later in Rome, Carlo Maratti engaged frequently with the art of Raphael (1483–1520). Raphael was widely celebrated, providing a model of carefully balanced and smoothly executed works that attracted artists such as Maratti. With this print, Maratti continued to circulate Raphael’s own significant projects, while claiming a part of that heritage for himself.
Gift of James Bergquist, Boston, in honor of Elizabeth Wyckoff 46:2020
Raphael, Italian, 1483–1520, The Expulsion of Heliodorus from the Temple, 1511–1512, fresco, 16 ft. 5 in. x 24 ft. 7 in. (500 cm x 750 cm), Apostolic Palace, Vatican
Skawennati,
Kanien’kéha:ka, born 1969
Celestial Tree, 2017, printed 2022
inkjet print
One of the Museum’s most recent acquisitions is also perhaps one of the most futuristic in appearance. Here, a massive electrified tree, its twisted roots extending in four directions from the trunk, sits before a domed structure. The branches lift radiant flowers in a glowing canopy. The setting for the picture, “Sky World,” is the spiritual realm of proto-human life according to Iroquois religious thought. Skawennati reimagined this Indigenous creation story through the graphic language of science fiction. She designed Celestial Tree using the online digital platform, Second Life. The artist refers to the print as a machinimagraph, a still image created in a virtual world.
Helen Kornblum Fund for Women Photographers 115:2022
Robert Longo,
American, born 1953
Study of Ferguson Riot Cops, 2014
charcoal and ink on vellum
Tear gas and smoke bombs obscure visibility in this scene of policemen in riot gear. The image depicts events that occurred on the fourth night of protests in the streets of Ferguson, Missouri, August 13, 2014, after Michael Brown, Jr. was shot and killed by a police officer on August 9.
Press photographs of the protests that were circulating across the globe inspired this drawing by Robert Longo. Noting his shock at the images, Longo said this one “really cried out for a response. I want to put you on the streets, so that you are on the street and they are walking to you rather than looking at it from the distance.” The work was made as a study in preparation for a 7 x 12.5-foot charcoal drawing now in the collection of The Broad Art Museum in Los Angeles.
Partial and promised gift of Lisa and Tom Carnahan 16:2020
Jacques-François-Joseph Saly,
French, 1717–1776
Vases invented by the artist for purposes of study, designed and engraved, 1746
set of 30 bound etchings
With their whimsical forms and elaborate decorations, each of the 30 designs for
vases in this album is an exercise in artistic creativity. Jacques-François-Joseph Saly likely drew inspiration from the many sources that surrounded him during his time at the French Academy in Rome. As the winner of a prize that sent him to Italy, he was encouraged to study the work of artists from ancient to more recent pasts. This volume builds on the Museum’s collection of so-called ornament prints, a category that highlights how printed images could inspire production in areas such as decorative arts.
The Sidney S. and Sadie Cohen Print Purchase Fund 131:2015
Bunny Burson,
American
Hidden in Plain Sight, 2015
artist’s book
designed and printed by Ken Botnick, St. Louis bound by Daniel Kelm, Easthampton, MA
The international roster of city names that appear in this artist’s book suggests a travelogue. Closer examination reveals a more somber reality, which the artist learned only through letters discovered after her mother’s death. The correspondence—between Bunny Burson’s German-born mother and uncle and their parents—chronicles the brief period after the two German Jewish children were sent to safety in the United States in 1939. It ends in 1941, when their final letter was returned to the children, signaling their parents had perished in the Holocaust.
Burson utilized multiple printmaking techniques to include and overlay fragments of her grandparents’ handwriting throughout Hidden in Plain Sight. The book, which also includes and translates three of the letters, was designed and printed by Ken Botnick, then professor of book arts at Washington University in St. Louis.
The Sidney S. and Sadie Cohen Print Purchase Fund 30:2016a,b
Terry Winters, American, born 1949
Jean Starobinski, Swiss, 1920–2019
Perfection, Way, Origin, 2001
book with 28 etchings, with additional set of 10 etchings, and aluminum box
printed and published by Universal Limited Art Editions, West Islip,
New York
In this series of etchings, dense patterns of black lines resemble spider webs or networks of circuitry. These prints and the accompanying book were the result of a nearly decade-long collaboration between artist Terry Winters and writer Jean Starobinski. Winters’ images complement Starobinski’s complex text on the creative process of art making. The project exemplifies Winters’ interest in combining language and visual imagery in his works. To do so, he often partnered with writers, and sometimes incorporated his own writing into his prints, as seen in some of the examples here.
Gift of Suzanne and Jerry Sincoff 129:2016.1–.13