St. Louis Gallery Devotes Entire Floor to Late Painter Edward E. Boccia

Visitors to the Central West End will find a different layout at 4735 McPherson this month. The Philip Slein Gallery has opened its doors to a career retrospective of Edward E. Boccia. The show, titled Edward E. Boccia: An American Modernist, runs through December 19. The opening reception takes place on October 23 from 5 to 8 p.m.

This installation marks a shift in how the gallery presents individual artists. For 23 years, the space typically reserved only its front room for solo exhibitions. Owner Philip Slein described the current setup as the largest the gallery has hosted. He noted that only an institutional setting could accommodate a project of this magnitude.

The exhibition displays more than 30 works created over a span of six decades. Boccia, who lived in St. Louis for 60 years, produced thousands of pieces during his lifetime. The show highlights his range, from small seaside scenes to monumental multi-panel works. His style blends classical traditions with experimental surrealism, often featuring rich symbolism and storytelling.

The front room holds the large-scale pieces that define his reputation. This includes the nine-panel autobiographical work Eugene's Journey and the 2004 triptych David's Death. The latter is one of several meditations on the death of his son. A hallway displays mythic scenes of ocean journeys and figures that appear to emit their own inner light.

The final room features a salon wall that traces his artistic evolution. It moves from a 1950s portrait to a work painted in 2012, shortly before his death at age 91. Influences from Paul Cézanne, Pablo Picasso, René Magritte, and St. Louis figure Max Beckmann appear throughout the collection.

A companion book, Edward E. Boccia: Painter of Nightmares and Dreams, will be published by Hirmer during the run. Art historian Rosa Berland wrote the text after 14 years of research. It is the first major monograph on the artist. The volume includes dozens of images and fold-out plates that convey the scale of his multi-panel paintings.

Berland described Boccia as a polymath who studied philosophy, theology, and psychoanalysis. He taught at Washington University in St. Louis for more than 30 years, retiring in 1986 as a professor emeritus. Berland credited Morton D. May as Boccia's greatest patron. May’s collection was later gifted in part to the Saint Louis Art Museum.

The gallery prepared a pamphlet that reflects Boccia’s preference for direct engagement. It advises viewers not to worry about what the art means, but to simply experience it. Berland said the work matters now because it demands a slower pace. She compared the experience to reading a poem or a philosophical text.