Pulitzer Arts Foundation — Attraction in St. Louis

the joe

i.

steelness, stillness and steepness; prism, prism, prism!

the past is the present, and the future will present its present in the present.

path, pains and the pursuit; whim, whim, whim!

ii.

life, living and leaving; spiritualism!

the longings unseen, the end unknown; and the calm before the storm.

patience of the realm.

iii.

first panel, outside in:

celestial knowingness; noble, rich and vast.

sweat, blood and pains; screams beyond silence, tears of joyous souls.

snakes eating apples.

iv.

second panel:

spring is to ease the birth of bliss.

strength, restlessness, and the adventures in the wild.

teenage tests.

v.

third panel:

talent on display, glitters abound, merriments arise, energy dispersed.

autumn and winter call for shades made of steel.

vi.

fourth panel:

resting rays, rainbow reins.

rocking chairs, reaching cheers.

buckets filled, twenty-twenty.

vii.

fifth panel:

self is home, and home is peace.

all's within, within is all.

tides and dunes, leise, ganz leise, ganz leise.

viii.

steelness, stillness and steepness; prism, prism, prism!

the past is the present, and the future will present its present in the present.

path, pains and the pursuit; whim, whim, whim!

ix.

life, living and leaving; spiritualism!

the longings unseen, the end unknown; and the calm before the storm.

patience of the realm.

x.

first panel, inside out:

back to the black; with sparkling sands forming my wings.

sight to the sky; with sparkling stars like angels in the blues.

xi.

curled in her womb; the core of beingness, and the beingness of beinghood.

freedom with a cord; gated by generations stretching forth beyond the future of a fragile hand.

xii.

second panel:

birth, knees and drools; the serendipitous innocence and the purity of clairvoyance.

simplicity of thoughts, naivety of choice, and the tantrum throes.

xiii.

straight like one; one so high, well of numbers.

straight like i; i is all there is.

why ask why? why like whys?

xiv.

third panel:

holes and wholes; patches and pride.

care, love and fears; heartbeats fall and rise.

mornings mourn, and so does the sun.

xv.

the moon mourns, and so does the comets.

asteroids in dismay, silence on display.

solitude and thoughts, odds at play; taunting all there is.

xvi.

fourth panel:

narrows and arrows; privacy, safety and secrets.

wisdom, peace and justice; scales tilting in shades.

bones, flesh and blood, scars unveiled.

xvii.

bent like six; time ticks.

hope smiles; luck hops.

success calls; able ears.

set ashore!

xviii.

fifth panel:

liberty on bouncing waves; leise, ganz leise, ganz leise.

prisms end, touch of the celestials.

space and space abound, wings of air unveils.

xix.

the art is you, and you is time and us; beauty in its essence.

spirals and cycles; the inevitability of death, and the immortality of life.

leise, ganz leise, ganz leise.

xx.

burrs are the words of dreams, dreams that are short of words; biography waiting to be told.

burrs are the thoughts of dreams, dreams that aspire to conquer the world.

liberty on bouncing waves; leise, ganz leise, ganz...

Came to the Pulitzer Arts Foundation specifically to see the exhibition by Barbara chase Riboud and was not disappointed. Lovely museum space. Not a lot of people around so had a good chance to spend time with the artwork without distractions. The staff was uniformly helpful.

I actually own a piece by Barbara Chase Riboud and I brought it with me to the museum to show the staff. It is an etching that Chase Riboud did while she was still a student at Temple University’s Tyler School of Art in Philadlphia. It is undated but I would guess it was done in 1958 of 1959 while she was still a student. (Chase Riboud earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Tyler in 1959.)

After college, Chase moved to Paris, France, where she established a studio and married photographer Marc Riboud on December 21, 1961. The etching is signed "Barbara Chase" demonstrating the she was unmarried at the time she signed it.

Unfortunately I came on a Saturday and none of the curators was available to discuss the etching. Maybe next time I am in St. Louis I...

This is such a gift to St. Louis. The docents are so interactive and the space is so intimate that you feel like it's your own private gallery. The exhibits are world-class, similar to what you find in major metropolitan venues, like the Tate Museum in London. I was really impressed how the curator combined the works of an iconic artist, like Alexander Calder, with the works of more contemporary artists under shared explorations of abstracted form. The same thing was done with a more recent exhibit, which incorporated older Japanese illustration with modern animation and contemporary video works. This would be challenging to take in without some art history background, except the Pulitzer's whole approach is to make amazing art accessible to everyone. There is no stuffiness here, just folks who are happy to share their knowledge and who invite you to pull up a floor pillow and...