But the show is lacking one of Maplewood’s best.
There is a wonderful exhibition of drawings and prints at the St. Louis Art Museum. It is made up of works by artists who were part of the Federal Art Project in the 1930s and early 40s. It is well worth the trip. Don’t wait too long. It is over on April 13.
Followers of this site may remember my posts about James Baare Turnbull from a year or so ago. If not, you can access them here.
Mr. Turnbull, himself a prominent artist (his studio was on Sutton in Maplewood), was the director of the Federal Art Project in St. Louis. I was disappointed that there is no mention of him in this exhibition. I was disappointed enough that beginning before the exhibition opened I tried every form of communication short of a carrier pigeon or catapult to inform the curators of this glaring omission all to no avail.
SLAM doesn’t own any of Mr. Turnbull’s prints but they do own one of his paintings. I understand that this exhibition is about drawings (not paintings) that are in SLAM’s collection. But c’mon, Jim Turnbull (as he signed some of his work) made many charcoal drawings of exactly the sort that are in this exhibition. He almost certainly made a large number of them in Maplewood…in his studio at 2737A Sutton. If nothing else, a shortage in SLAM’s collection is revealed.
I would have loved to have seen the single painting of Mr. Turnbull’s (The Church Supper) that is owned by the museum displayed at the entrance to this exhibition. They might have explained that while the museum didn’t own any of his drawings, he did many. His painting was being displayed because he was a very prominent local artist, working just a few miles from the museum’s location and he was the director of the Federal Art Project in St. Louis.
The original drawing of the first Maplewood City Hall and Fire department by the architect and builder William Koester. The building was built in 1911 by Dr. Leander W. Cape who then leased it to the fledgling city of Maplewood. The building still exists at 2737 Sutton. James Baare Turnbull’s studio was on the second floor at 2737A.
An early photograph of our first city hall and fire department. Note that the hose drying tower is under construction. At that time the hoses were made of linen and would rot if they weren’t dried out.
This image affords us with a good view of the buildings and the now completed hose drying tower.
And another view. I’m just making a point that these buildings have been and still are very important to the history of our community. So you might imagine how delighted I was to discover that a famous artist had made his studio on the second floor.
Governor Matt Blunt speaking in 2006 about the D.R.E.A.M. project. The location is directly in front of our first city hall. Our current mayor, Barry Greenberg, is on the left. City Manager Marty Corcoran and Councilwoman Karen Wood are at the rear on the right.
Councilman Bob Knoll and family ride past the first city hall building during our centennial parade in 2008.
What are the reasons that none of us had any knowledge of Turnbull and his work for so long? Who knows? Images like his charcoal drawing above are exactly what is currently on display at the St. Louis Art Museum. Hopefully they will add some of his work to their collection in the future.
Doug Houser March 20, 2025
Happy Spring Doug, Gary here, say, doesn’t Mr. Turnbull’s charcoal drawing closely resemble Thomas Hart Benton’s work? We have very artistic folks and artists still in Maplewood. Mr. Bill Perry is one and some of his work can be seen in Scheidt Hardware. Also if you haven’t seen it, go by Zephyr just east of Big Bend on the north side and look at the great tree trunk carving some very artistic person made.