Location: Nelson-Atkins Building, Gallery 214 Admission is free.
George Caleb Bingham (1811–1879), whose bicentennial we
celebrate this year, used drawing as a foundation of his art
throughout his career. The drawings that have survived—of single
figures or details of them—relate to his popular paintings of
everyday life and politics in Missouri. Exactly how Bingham used
his drawings, however, remains a mystery. Often to scale and
stage-like in their poses, his precisely rendered figures may
have aided him as he arranged compositions. Carefully delineated
shading also likely provided a guide as he created volumetric
form and shadows in paint. In addition, Bingham’s drawings
helped him recycle specific figures for multiple paintings. The
drawings on view are a selection from more than 100 sheets
originally owned by John How, an early St. Louis mayor. How gave
the drawings to the St. Louis Mercantile Library in 1868, where
they remained until 1974, when the library decided to sell them.
Citizens across the stat