Event Information

The St. Louis Mercantile Library at UMSL, now in its 179th year, continues its historic artistic and cultural mission and secures it for the future with the opening of the Wallace H. Smith Gallery of Art. The inaugural exhibition, "Casting a Long Shadow: Frederick Oakes Sylvester and His Circle", exemplifies the Mercantile's mission to collect, preserve, and display the work of Missouri artists through its presentation of paintings and prints by fifty St. Louis artists in the Mercantile collection. The exhibition explores St. Louis's cultural life through the career of Frederick Oakes Sylvester (1869-1915) who arrived in St. Louis in 1892 and became a leading figure in several local and regional art organizations. He influenced a generation of artists through his teaching at Central High School and The Principia, and his Impressionistic paintings of the Mississippi River inspired other artists in both subject matter and style. Sylvester's interest in the Arts and Crafts movement and his love of poetry inspired his 1911 publication "The Great River: Poems and Pictures" containing his original poems illustrated with photographs of his paintings. The book's deluxe edition included a small watercolor landscape painting, and 23 of these are displayed together for the first time. The exhibition and its full color catalog connect artists across organizations and generations to expand our understanding of St. Louis's rich artistic heritage.
Free public tours are available by appointment, Tuesday - Friday and Sunday, email MercantileLibrary@umsl.edu to schedule.

Artists: Frederick Oakes Sylvester, Edmund Wuerpel, Kathryn Bard Cherry, Frank Nuderscher, Fred Greene Carpenter, Glenda Hares, Barbara Martin Smith, Bryan Haynes

Category: Arts | Visual Arts | Galleries / Art

Time: 10:00 am to 4:00 pm