A Passion for the Arts in St. Louis

(June 29, 1907 – December 19, 1984) Born in New York’s “Little Italy,” Prestopino followed the educational path typical of many immigrant children: elementary school and then a few years at a vocational high school. After having pursued such a path, in which he attempted to learn sign painting, he left school at the age…

(28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) Pythagoras Advocating Vegetarianism One of two paintings in the Royal Collection (see also CWLF 64, 405553) which result from a collaboration between Rubens, who did the figures, and Frans Snyders, who did the foodstuffs. In this case Snyders painted the fruit and vegetables first and then passed the…

(June 27, 1913 – June 7, 1980) Philip Guston was a Canadian American painter, printmaker, muralist and draftsman. Early in his five decade career, muralist David Siquieros described him as one of “the most promising painters in either the US or Mexico,” in reference to his antifascist fresco The Struggle Against Terror, which “includes the hooded figures that became a lifelong…

(June 26, 1937 – May 30, 1966) Bob Thompson was an African-American figurative painter known for his bold and colorful canvases, whose compositions were influenced by the Old Masters. His art has also been described as synthesizing Baroque and Renaissance masterpieces with the jazz-influenced Abstract Expressionist movement. He was prolific in his eight-year career, producing more than 1,000 works before his death in Rome in 1966.…

(June 25, 1940 – July 8, 2017) C. DeWitt Hardy was an American Postwar & Contemporary artist who was born in 1940.Bates College, Museum of Art featured C. DeWitt Hardy’s work in the past.C. DeWitt Hardy’s work has been offered at auction multiple times, with realized prices ranging from 35 USD to 1,100 USD, depending on…

(June 24, 1920 – February 6, 1984) The son of Surrealist Max Ernst, Jimmy Ernst attended several European craft schools and served an apprenticeship in printing and typography before immigrating to the United States in 1938. He worked in advertising agencies and art galleries for several years, and not until age twenty did he decide…

(23 June 1849 – 28 April 1927) John Reinhard Weguelin was an English painter and illustrator, active from 1877 to after 1910. He specialized in figurative paintings with lush backgrounds, typically landscapes or garden scenes. Weguelin emulated the neo-classical style of Edward Poynter and Lawrence Alma-Tadema, painting subjects inspired by classical antiquity and mythology. He depicted scenes of everyday life in ancient Greece and Rome, as well…

(22 June 1876 – 18 September 1939) John’s career did not receive major international attention until the Matthiesen Gallery’s 1946 Memorial Exhibition in London. Painting to capture her own intense personal vision, John focused on only a few subjects—mostly three-quarter portraits of a solitary woman, stark interiors, or quiet still-lifes. Her style remained consistent throughout her…

(June 21, 1859 – May 25, 1937) Henry Ossawa Tanner was an American artist who spent much of his career in France. He became the first African-American painter to gain international acclaim. Tanner moved to Paris, France, in 1891 to study at the Académie Julian and gained acclaim in French artistic circles. His painting Daniel in the Lions’ Den (1895, location unknown) was…

GERMAN PAINTER, COLLAGIST, AND WRITER Born: June 20, 1887 – Hanover, Germany Died: January 8, 1948 – Kendel, Cumbria, England Directly affected by the depressed state of Germany following World War I, and the modernist ethos of the Dada movement, Kurt Schwitters began to collect garbage from the streets and incorporate it directly into his art work.…