Missouri Art History
with an emphasis on representational art
(above: George Caleb Bingham (American, 1811-1879). Fur Traders Descending the Missouri,1845. Oil on canvas, 29 x 36 1/2 inches. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Purchase, Morris K. Jesup Fund, 1933 (33.61.). Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons*)
Introduction
This section of our catalogue Topics in American Art is devoted to the topic "Missouri Art History." Articles and essays specific to this topic published in our Resource Library are listed at the beginning of the section. Clicking on titles takes readers directly to the articles and essays.
Following the links to Resource Library articles and essays are a listing of museums in the state which have provided materials to Resource Library for this or any other topic.
Listed after museums are links to online resources outside our website. Following these resources is information about offline resources including paper-printed books, journals and articles. Our goal is to present complete knowledge relating to this section of Topics in American Art.
We recommend that researchers always search within Resource Library for additional material. Please see our page How to research topics not listed for more information.
Resource Library essays listed by author name in alphabetical order, followed by articles:
University City Ceramics: Saint Louis Heritage and the Arts and Crafts Movement
Museums and other non-profit sources of Resource Library articles and essays:
Ashby-Hodge Museum of American Art
Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art
Museum of Contemporary Religious Art at St. Louis University
National Oil and Acrylic Painters' Society
Truman Presidential Museum and Library
Other online information:
Armchair Art Historian feature of the Madden Museum of Art. Accessed 9/23
Art Along the Rivers: A Bicentennial Celebration is a 2021 exhibit at the Saint
Louis Art Museum which says: "In conjunction with the 200th anniversary
of Missouri's statehood, Art Along the Rivers: A Bicentennial Celebration
explores the remarkable artwork produced and collected over 1,000 years
in the region surrounding St. Louis. The exhibition presents more than 150
objects from Missouri as far north as Hannibal, west to Hermann, and south
through the Old Mines area. It also encompasses the Illinois region along
the eastern bank of the Mississippi River, from Cairo north through Carbondale
and Alton. Although the region that has shaped the exhibition's objects
is small, it has played an outsize role in the history of North America
due to the confluence of powerful rivers and major trails and routes within
its borders." Accessed 12/21
Artists from Missouri from Wikipedia. Accessed August, 2015.
Missouri (sampling of artists and works connected to state) from askArt. Accessed August, 2015.
Famous Missouri Artists, from The State Historical Society of Missouri.
From the River to the Region: A Story of Missouri Art is a 2025 Gemini 2.5 Pro article which says: "The story of representational art in Missouri, from its earliest days to 1945, is a story of wrestling with the frontier. The art of Missouri, in the end, is defined by this "Show-Me" spirit: a constant, creative tension between its raw, "unconventional reality" and its ambitious, sophisticated desire to translate that reality into a great American art.
Missouri State Capitol - from Wikipedia. Accessed August, 2015.
Missouri State Capitol Murals - from State of Missouri. Accessed August, 2015.
Missouri's Fascinating Art History is a 2025 article by Grok 4 which says: "The century of art from 1845 to 1945 in Missouri is a perfect mirror of America's own journey. It begins with Bingham, the romantic chronicler, capturing the last quiet moments of the river frontier with a luminous, gentle light. It passes through the ambitious, cosmopolitan Gilded Age, where St. Louis and its great World's Fair looked to the rest of the world for inspiration. And it ends with Benton, the fiery populist, who ripped art away from the coasts and Europe, bringing it back to the soil, painting the history and folk culture of his state with a brash, muscular, and unforgettable energy. These two men, Bingham and Benton, bookend the era, both products of Missouri political families, and both convinced that the most American stories of all were the ones unfolding right in front of them, on the bluffs of the Mississippi and in the hills of the Ozarks." Accessed 12/25
Plein Air Paintings Representing 114 Counties in Missouri by Billyo O'Donnell, an exhibit held at the Ashby-Hodge Gallery of American Art. Accessed April, 2015.
Printmaking in Kansas City: The Moffett Collection is a 2016-17 exhibit at the Albrecht-Kemper Museum of Art, which says: ". The Kansas City Art Institute's (KCAI) curriculum added print courses in lithography first under Ross Braught (1898-1983) around 1931 through 1935. Thomas Hart Benton (1889-1975) was hired as his replacement as head of the painting program but he also brought printmaker John DeMartelly (1903-1979) on to the faculty to encourage students to give lithography, blockprinting, and intaglio mediums a try, as well as participate in the New York City-based Associate American Artists (AAA)." Accessed 11/16
St. Louis Women Artists - 19th & 20th Century from Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri.
Thomas Hart Benton: Missouri's Native Son and Artistic Giant, is a 2025 article by Grok 4 which says: "Have you ever heard of Thomas Hart Benton? Not the old-timey senator -- though, fun fact, the artist was named after his great-uncle, that famous Missouri politician. No, I'm talking about the painter, the guy who basically put the American Midwest on the art map during the tough times of the Great Depression. Born in 1889 in Neosho, Missouri, Benton became one of the big shots in what's called the American Scene movement, specifically Regionalism Think of him as the artistic voice shouting, "Hey, America, look at your own backyard!" He painted everyday folks in a way that was bold, twisty, and full of life, sending messages about hard work, social struggles, and what it meant to be American. Accessed 11/25
Books sampler:
Mo. artist guide: Of artists who have painted Missouri, by Dan Woodward. Publisher: Rolla Fine Arts Museum; 1st edition (1993)
Sculpture City, St. Louis: Public Sculpture in the "Gateway to the West", By George McCue, David Finn, Amy Binder. Published by Rizzoli International Publications [distributor], 1988. ISBN 0933920628, 9780933920620. 191 pages
Historic & Dedicatory Monuments of Kansas City, By Lillie F Kelsay, Kansas City (Mo.), Board of Parks and Recreation Commissioners. Published by The Board, 1987
The First Hundred Years, 1879-1979: Washington University School of Fine Arts, By Sally Bixby Defty. Published by Washington University, 1979
Portraits in Missouri: Painted Before 1860, By National Society of the Colonial Dames in America, Published by National Scoiety of the Colonial Dames in America, 1974. 214 pages
The Story of the St. Louis Artists' Guild, 1886-1936., By St. Louis Artists' Guild. Published by s.n, 1936
A century of Missouri art, by J. S Ankeney. 23 pages. Publisher: State Historical Society of Missouri (1922)
Illustrated Handbook of the Missouri Art Exhibit Made Under the Auspices of the Saint Louis Artists' Guild: Art Gallery of the Missouri State Building, with an Introduction, List of Works and Descriptive and Biographical Text, by George Julian Zolnay, Saint Louis Artists' Guild, Published by the Missouri Art Commission, 1905. 77 pages
Encyclopedia of the History of Missouri: A Compendium of History and Biography for Ready Reference, By Howard Louis Conard. Published by The Southern history company, Haldeman, Conard & co., proprietors, 1901. Item notes: v.4. Original from Harvard University. Digitized Jan 23, 2008. Full View available via Google Books.
Encyclopedia of the History of St. Louis: A Compendium of History and Biography for Ready Reference, By William Hyde, Howard L. Conard. Published by Library Reprints, Inc. ISBN 0722207158, 9780722207154. 1899
History of Saint Louis City and County: From the Earliest Periods to the Present Day: Including Biographical Sketches of Representative Men, By John Thomas Scharf. Published by L.H. Everts, 1883. ISBN 0665132662, 9780665132667. 1943 pages
A Tour of St. Louis; Or, The Inside Life of a Great City, By Joseph A. Dacus, James William Buel. Published by Western publishing company, 1878. Original from Harvard University. Digitized Sep 13, 2006. 554 pages. Full View available via Google Books.
Arts in St. Louis, By William Tod Helmuth. Published by s.n., 1864. Original from Harvard University. Digitized Jun 25, 2008. 64 pages. Full View available via Google Books.
Show Me Sculpture: A Guide to Missouri's Outdoor Sculpture, By Marie Nau Hunter. Published by Museum of Art and Archaeology, University of Missouri
(above: Missouri statehood's 150th anniversary was commemorated with an 8-cent stamp on May 8, 1971. The vignette by Thomas Hart Benton shows a Native American offering a pipe to settlers in a camp with a wagon train cresting a ridge in the background. Bureau of Printing and Engraving - U.S. Post Office. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons*)
Musical accompanyment:
Shenandoah (2014) - Mormon Tabernacle
Choir
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