Art Along the Rivers: A Bicentennial Celebration

A collection of rich artifacts that have shaped artistic production in what is now Missouri.

Art Along the Rivers marks the two-hundredth anniversary of Missouri’s statehood. This exhibition catalog presents extraordinary objects produced or collected within a 150-mile region around St. Louis, including paintings, sculptures, drawings, furniture, ceramics, metals, and textiles. As a celebration of the cultural and artistic traditions of this region, the catalog looks within—and beyond—the years of statehood to reveal how the region’s geography, raw materials, and pressing social issues have shaped its rich artistic production. Though these objects have rarely been considered in connection with one another, the catalog brings them into dialogue to establish and celebrate their shared artistic history. Art Along the Rivers serves as the first significant publication to introduce this primary artistic material to a global audience.
 

Amy Torbert is the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Assistant Curator of American Art at the Saint Louis Art Museum. 

M. Melissa Wolfe is a curator and head of the Department of American Art at the Saint Louis Art Museum.