Our Adventure Continues
Day 11 | St. Louis, MO and Kansas City, MO
We're in St. Louis ('A' on Map)
After a fairly long drive from Cincinnati, we spend the night in a very comfortable B&B called Tuxedo Park Bed & Breakfast in west St. Louis called Webster Groves. It is a renovated church structure and is run by an architect/developer and his wife. Comfortable rooms, nice breakfast and friendly dogs!
We arrived rather late in the afternoon and after settling in, found a neighborhood restaurant not far from the B&B called Big Sky Cafe at 47 S. Old Orchard. It falls in the Farm to Table genre. I would highly recommend it if you’re hungry!
After a very comfortable night of rest and rejuvenation, we were ready to see St. Louis! Our main objective for today is the St. Louis Art Museum. Its an all day museum experience that I’m glad we did!
There was so much to absorb over the 3 to 4 hours we spent in the museum and from here you will just get a hint of the variety of periods, style, and types of art that you will find at your fingertips.
The museum is very easy to navigate through the various galleries or if you’re looking for specific genres, you will find helpful docents throughout the museum to guide you to the right location. We love docents!!
So here we go. I’ve organized the photos based on periods of art from ancient to contemporary examples. For more information, spend some time reading the descriptions of the periods to get a better understanding…dare I say “perspective”…of each one. I hope you enjoy the show!
Ancient Art: Greek, Near East, Mesopotamian and Byzantine
Realism
Impressionism: Landscape and Portrait
Rococo
Modern
Abstract Impressionism
Opticality
A new interpretation of and artistic style that emerged in the 1960’s is emerging again and is called Opticality. The style (color field that evokes feeling optically through color wavelength) was originally only experienced in 2D. This is being challenged by a few of today’s artist to extend the ‘palette’ into a 3D experience.
Figuration and Contemporary
Impressionism and Beyond
We were fortunate to find more Impressionism hidden away in a special exhibit called Impressionism and Beyond. This exhibit told a story that isn’t often told when viewing art of any stye or era. The purpose of this exhibit was to show works of several European Impressionists and how social issues of the time affected them and what they drew or painted. I would encourage you to go to the link to get a more thorough understanding of the exhibit.
Here are a few…I mean a lot… of the works on exhibit.
Furniture of All Periods
To close out this one, I wanted to include a different type of artistry that can be found at the museum. Furniture of all periods (and comfort level) can be found there if that’s your thing. We have our favorites–craftsman and modern being two we really appreciate since we live in that world–but as you go through the exhibits, you will undoubtedly learn to appreciate the craftsmanship and artistry that goes into all styles.
Last Category: Sculpture Gardens
Last but not least for the day was a walk through the Grace Taylor Broughton Sculpture Garden. Although not extensive in terms of the collection, there were some fine examples of bronze works by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Jacques Lipchitz, Mathias Gasteiger, Henry Moore and Andy Goldsworthy and several others. Laid out in “rooms” with alleys of trees forming the exterior spaces each piece is displayed within, the gardens are the work of French landscape architect Michel Desvigne.
I would suggest visiting the website for Grace Taylor Broughton Sculpture Garden for more information about the garden and works of art. Enjoy!
On To Our Next...and Last City!
After a full day of art, art and more art, we head out to our last city before heading home–Kansas City, Missouri.
See you soon!