Mary Agnes McColl

Mary McColl is remembered both for her contributions to the St. Louis art community and as an influential educator in the early 20th century. Part of the growing contingent of St. Louis women artists around that time, alongside names such as Martha Hoke and Cornelia Maury, McColl emerged as one of the more progressive figures in this exciting climate for her experimentation with composition and color. As an educator, McColl was responsible for training generations of young artists in her more than three decades of employment in St. Louis Public Schools.

McColl was born in Ontario, Canada, and studied abroad and received her training primarily from private teachers in Munich and Paris. Her prestigious list of tutors included Marcel Courtois, Paul Cornoyer and Hugh Breckinridge. McColl’s time abroad coincided with significant developments in art associated with pioneers such as Henri Matisse, the leading figure in the Fauvist movement. She also studied under German-born artist Hans Hofmann in Munich and Italy.

Sources and census records indicate that McColl immigrated to the United States anywhere between 1888 and 1904, though she first exhibited in St. Louis in 1897 and is listed in city directories as early as 1902. By 1910, McColl was working as an assistant drawing supervisor for the St. Louis Board of Education, marking the beginning of an extensive career in education. McColl went on to teach art in several St. Louis schools, including Soldan, Yeatman, McKinley, Roosevelt, and Cleveland High Schools.

McColl’s subjects ranged from landscape and still-life to portraits. She worked predominantly in watercolors, although she was also known to include sketches and drawings in her exhibited work. McColl was a member and exhibited frequently with the St. Louis Artists’ Guild, particularly the sub-group of artists known as “Eight Women Painters,” and received several awards for her work. Of this group, McColl in particular was recognized for her skill with color, often juxtaposing short strokes of solid color, allowing the eye to process them rather than physically blending them on the page. The St. Louis Globe-Democrat, reviewing McColl’s solo exhibition in 1933, noted the “stunning effect” achieved by this technique.

In between teaching responsibilities, McColl would go to her cottage in Kimmswick, Missouri, joining a small community of artists who were attracted to the foothills of the Ozarks. Like her contemporary Augusta Finkelnburg, who also served as a teacher in St. Louis Public Schools and owned a cottage nearby, McColl would retreat to the area to paint in the natural setting, a welcome contrast to the pace of urban life. In 1926, her work was included in an exhibition sponsored by the St. Louis Art League titled The Scenic Charm of Missouri.

A tireless advocate for art education, McColl continued to teach in public schools until she retired in 1942, just one year before her death.