Bernard E. Peters

Bernard E. Peters was born on August 8, 1893, in St. Louis, Missouri. He studied art at St. Louis University, where he received his bachelor’s degree in art, and then studied at the University of Missouri in Columbia. He also attended Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he received a master’s degree in fine arts. After graduating from Harvard, he traveled to England and France. Later, he studied with Frederick Mulhaupt in New England, who influenced him and his artwork. 

Peters was one of the co-founders of the Ste. Genevieve Art Colony, in Ste. Genevieve Missouri. Peters first visited Ste. Genevieve in 1932 with his wife, Ord Peters, and friend Frank Nuderscher. On this visit, Peters met Matthew Ziegler, who offered the Mammy Shaw house in Ste. Genevieve for rent. Peters told Jessie Beard Rickly, another co-founder of the colony, about the home, who then rented it. The Ste. Genevieve Art Colony began soon after, and the summer art school was founded in 1934. The next year, Peters bought a cabin in St. Mary, Missouri, ten miles outside of Ste. Genevieve. This was the summer home of Peters and his wife until 1943.

Peters taught art at Cleveland High School in St. Louis, and was director of the Advertising Art Academy held in the Academy of Science building in St. Louis in 1932. In 1936, he was on the editorial board of the publication Allied Arts of Greater St. Louis. In his work, Peters painted landscapes of Missouri and was also a designer.

During his lifetime, Peters suffered from Bright’s disease, and died from the illness in 1949.