30 Paintings Span 90 Years in New Boccia Exhibition

Visitors to the Central West End can now view the full scope of Edward E. Boccia’s artistic output in a single location. Philip Slein Gallery has filled every available room with more than 30 works from the artist, marking the first time in the gallery’s 23-year history that it has devoted its entire space to one painter. The exhibition, titled Edward E. Boccia: An American Modernist, opens with a public reception on October 23 from 5 to 8 p.m. and runs through December 19.

The gallery at 4735 McPherson Avenue typically reserves only its front room for individual artist shows. For this survey, owner Philip Slein expanded the display to the hallway and the final back room. Slein described the scale as rare for a private venue, noting that only an institutional museum could accommodate a larger presentation. The decision reflects the volume of work Boccia produced over a career spanning nearly seven decades.

Boccia, born in New Jersey in 1921, arrived in St. Louis in 1951 when he joined the faculty at Washington University. He taught there for more than 30 years, retiring in 1986 as professor emeritus. Before moving to Missouri, he served in the World War II Ghost Army and studied at Pratt Institute, the Art Students League, and Columbia University. He remained in St. Louis for six decades, producing thousands of paintings until his death in 2012 at age 91.

The exhibition features large-scale pieces in the front room, including the nine-panel autobiographical work Eugene’s Journey. The 2004 triptych David’s Death is also on display, one of several pieces addressing the death of Boccia’s son. A hallway display showcases mythic scenes of ocean journeys, while the final room contains a salon wall tracing his stylistic evolution. This section includes a 1950s portrait and a work painted in 2012, shortly before his death. Influences from Paul Cézanne, Pablo Picasso, René Magritte, and Max Beckmann appear throughout the collection.

Art historian Rosa Berland, who is based in New York, curated the companion book Edward E. Boccia: Painter of Nightmares and Dreams. Published by Hirmer during the exhibition run, the volume is the first major monograph on the artist. Berland spent 14 years researching the project, which includes scholarly essays, historical overviews, and fold-out plates detailing the scale of Boccia’s multi-panel works. She credited Morton D. May, whose collection was partially gifted to the Saint Louis Art Museum, as Boccia’s greatest patron.

Berland described Boccia as a polymath who studied philosophy, theology, psychoanalysis, and history. Despite this breadth of knowledge, he resisted didactic interpretations of his art. A pamphlet prepared for the show, written by Berland and Slein, includes a quote from Boccia: “Don’t worry about what my art means. Just experience it.” She noted that his teaching style was rigorous but encouraged students to find their own creative voice.

The show aims to engage viewers on multiple levels, according to Berland. She compared the experience of viewing the work to reading a poem or a philosophical text, suggesting it requires a slower pace of consumption. Slein added that Boccia’s dedication to his craft was total, stating, “If he wasn't sleeping or eating, he was drawing.”