Slein Gallery hosts 60-year survey of painter Edward Boccia

Philip Slein Gallery is hosting a career retrospective of St. Louis painter Edward E. Boccia through December 19. The show, titled Edward E. Boccia: An American Modernist, opened with a reception on October 23 from 5 to 8 p.m. at 4735 McPherson Avenue. The exhibition utilizes the entire footprint of the gallery, a rare occurrence in the venue's 23-year history.

Slein Gallery typically reserves its front room for individual exhibitions. For this show, the walls of all three rooms are filled with works spanning Boccia's six decades in St. Louis. Gallery owner Philip Slein described the installation as a major undertaking. He stated that the only venue that could host a larger display would be a major institution.

Boccia was born in New Jersey in 1921 to Italian parents. He served in the World War II Ghost Army before studying at the Pratt Institute, the Art Students League, and Columbia University. He taught at the Columbus Art School in Ohio, where he introduced Bauhaus principles to his students. In 1951, he joined Washington University in St. Louis. He remained there for more than 30 years, retiring in 1986 as a professor emeritus.

Curator Rosa Berland, based in New York, noted that Boccia taught with rigor while encouraging students to find their own creative drive. Boccia produced thousands of paintings throughout his life, continuing to work until his death in 2012 at age 91. Slein recalled that Boccia drew whenever he was not sleeping or eating. The artist's style combined classical traditions with experimental techniques, often featuring surreal scenes rich in symbolism.

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. The latter is one of several pieces meditating on the death of his son. A hallway presents mythic ocean scenes and figures that appear to emit inner light. The final room contains a salon wall tracing Boccia's evolution from a 1950s portrait to a work painted in 2012. Influences from Paul Cézanne, Pablo Picasso, René Magritte, and Max Beckmann appear throughout the collection.

A companion book, Edward E. Boccia: Painter of Nightmares and Dreams, is being published by Hirmer during the exhibition run. Berland wrote the text after 14 years of research, marking the first major monograph on the artist. The book includes dozens of images, fold-out plates, and scholarly essays. Berland credited Morton D. May as Boccia's greatest patron. She described Boccia as a polymath who studied philosophy, theology, and psychoanalysis but preferred viewers to experience his work without overthinking its meaning.

Berland stated that the work demands engagement on multiple levels. She compared the viewing experience to reading a poem or a philosophical text, noting that people do not slow down as often in modern life.