Exposition Art Blog: American Figurative Expressionism Edward Boccia

American Figurative Expressionism Edward Boccia


Edward Eugene Boccia (1921–2012) was an American painter and poet who lived and worked in St. Louis, Missouri and served as a university professor in the School of Fine Arts, Washington University, St. Louis.Boccia's work consisted mostly of large scale paintings in Neo-Expressionist style, and reflect an interest in religion and its role in the modern world. His primary format was the multi-panel painting.
Widely exhibited during his lifetime, and the focus of a number of retrospective and solo exhibits, the artist created over 1,500 paintings, and over fifty large scale multi-panel format oil paintings in a neo-expressionist style, such as Mystique Marriage (1979). The American collector of avant garde European modernism Morton D. May was Boccia's most important patron, and held a large collection of Boccia's work.(Wikipedia)





 Boccia's themes are linked to the mystical, occult, and theosophical traditions of modern art including the belief in the messianic role of the artist, seen in the work of the Symbolists, as well as the pictures of Paul Gauguin and Oskar Kokoschka among others. Specifically, Boccia includes numerous self-portraits, and uses examples of esoteric imagery such as the androgyne and the hermaphrodite. The works for which the artist is most well known are the multi-panel works in Expressionist style.
In 1956, Boccia began his multi-panel paintings, which were purchased after completion, among others, by Morton D. May between 1956 and 1977. Some of his most noteworthy series of multi-paneled paintings consist of up to nine panels. Other paintings remained hidden in his studio for over fifty years and were uncovered recently by a research project led by the late artist's trust.(Wikipedia)








 

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