Ste. Genevieve Art Colony

Ste. Genevieve, Missouri, is the oldest town in Missouri and located along the Mississippi River, south of St. Louis. In 1932 this picturesque town became home to the Ste. Genevieve Arts Colony under the efforts of artists Bernard Peters, Jessie Beard Rickly, and Aimee Schweig with the encouragement of Frank Nudescher who was the director of the Ozark School of Art. Peters, Rickly, and Schweig sought to create an opportunity for artists to experiment with their work. Artists from across the country were associated with the colony. Artists who worked at  Ste. Genevieve worked in a wide variety of styles including Cubism and American Regionalism. In terms of experimentation, colony members were encouraged to showcase their styles and techniques and some drew inspiration from the teachings of international artists like Monet, Cezanne, and Picasso. As a result, the artists who studied in the colony produced work on a variety of subjects from landscapes, to portraits, abstract works as well as still-life and idyllic rural scenes and small-town life.

During the height of the colony's existence, many artists (both American and European) traveled to Ste. Genevieve to work , including Fred Conway, E. Oscar Thalinger, Joseph "Joe" Jones, Joseph Paul Vorst, Vera Flinn, Miriam McKinnie, Sister Cassiana Marie, Martyl Schweig, Matthew E. Ziegler, and most notably Thomas Hart Benton. Throughout the years, many area students and Ste. Genevieve residents participated as well. In 1932, the colony exhibited its first show at the Shaw House, which served as the artists' physical headquarters and studio space.

The Ste. Genevieve Art Colony flourished for just over a decade, in the 1940s it disbanded by the start of the United States' entry into World War II.

Select Sources

Aarik Danielsen, “Small Ste. Genevieve Colony Shaped An Entire Country’s View Of The Midwest,” Columbia Daily Tribune, March 20, 2011, https://www.columbiatribune.com/article/20110320/entertainment/303209870.

“A Midwestern View: The Artists of the Ste. Genevieve Art Colony,” University of Missouri-Columbia Museum Magazine, 58 (Winter 2011): 2-4. https://maa.missouri.edu/sites/default/files/mag/museummag.58.lo_res.pdf.

Contributors

Roberta Wagener, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art

Record Published

Published on September 20, 2021