Philip Slein Gallery Opens Boccia Career Survey

Visitors entering the gallery at 4735 McPherson will find every wall occupied by the work of Edward E. Boccia. The exhibition, titled Edward E. Boccia: An American Modernist, opens with a reception from 5 to 8 p.m. on Thursday, October 23, and remains on view through December 19. This marks a rare departure for the venue, which has operated for 23 years and typically reserves its front room for individual shows.

Boccia lived in St. Louis for six decades, a period that produced thousands of paintings. He was born in New Jersey in 1921 to Italian parents and served in the World War II Ghost Army before studying at the Pratt Institute and the Art Students League. After earning degrees from Columbia University, he taught at the Columbus Art School in Ohio, where he introduced Bauhaus principles to his students.

In 1951, Boccia joined the faculty at Washington University in St. Louis. He remained there for more than 30 years and retired in 1986 as professor emeritus. Rosa Berland, an art historian and curator based in New York, described his teaching style as rigorous yet open to students finding their own kind of fire. He continued painting until his death in 2012 at age 91.

The current survey displays more than 30 paintings that span his career. The front room features large-scale pieces, including the nine-panel autobiographical polyptych Eugene's Journey. It also holds the 2004 triptych David's Death, one of several works meditating on the death of Boccia's son. A hallway section presents mythic scenes of ocean journeys and figures that appear to emit inner light.

The final room contains a salon wall that traces his artistic evolution. The arrangement moves from a 1950s portrait to a painting completed in 2012, shortly before his death. The collection reflects influences from Paul Cézanne, Pablo Picasso, René Magritte, Renaissance masters, and St. Louis artist Max Beckmann. Gallery owner Philip Slein called the show very significant, noting that only an institutional setting could be bigger.

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, making it the first major monograph on the artist. The volume includes dozens of images and scholarly essays, along with fold-out plates that illustrate the scale of his multi-panel works.

Berland characterized Boccia as a polymath who studied philosophy, theology, psychoanalysis, and history. A pamphlet prepared by Berland and Slein advises viewers to experience the art without worrying about its meaning. Berland also credited Morton D. May, whose collection was partly gifted to the Saint Louis Art Museum, as Boccia's greatest patron.

The curator described the work as a story of a kid from New York who found success in St. Louis. She argued that such work matters now because it demands engagement on multiple levels. Berland compared the experience to reading a poem or a philosophical text, stating that we don't slow down anymore.