HISTORY: From its beginnings, the St. Louis Mercantile Library sought to provide its rooms as a gallery for art as well as for books to its members-the early populace and citizenry of a frontier city. In many ways, the Mercantile was founded by business leaders not only as a general library for all readers, but also as an art museum, one of St. Louis' first and longest lasting, in which such merchants exercised a high degree of taste and knowledge in collecting art for the viewing public. Many special exhibitions were presented by the Library in its earliest days, some to raise funds for various causes. Library leaders, such as James Yeatman and Henry Bacon, were deeply interested in the fine arts, even distinguished connoisseurs and patrons in their time. The Mercantile was often the recipient of a gift of art, or of a long-term loan which was never recalled, and almost by default the founders frequently saw to it that paintings of great merit were preserved which otherwise would have been lost to subsequent generations.
SCOPE: The collection of oil paintings and watercolors spans over 150 years from ca.1810 to the present. Genres include portraiture, landscape, and western art. Subjects range from portraits of prominent Americans, especially St. Louisans, to regional rural and urban landscapes and riverscapes, to Western and Native American subjects.
HOLDINGS:
Auguste Chouteau , one of the founders of St. Louis, oil on canvas, ca.1810
William Clark , oil on canvas, by Chester Harding, ca.1820
Wa-kon-cha-hi-re-ga in a Bark Lodge , oil on canvas, by Charles Deas, ca.1840
View of Carondelet; South St. Louis , Gouache on paper, by John Caspar Wild, 1841
Joseph Charless, Jr., by William Cogswell, 1859
George Washington and Martha Washington , both oil on canvas, by George Caleb Bingham after Gilbert Stuart, ca.1859
James Yeatman , founder of the Mercantile Library, pastel, by A. Wunder, ca.1860
Edward W. Johnston , oil on canvas laid on panel, by Sarah Peale, 1865
Westward the Star of Empire , oil on canvas, by Theodore Kaufmann, ca.1869
View of the Meramec, near Glencoe , oil on canvas, by Joseph R. Meeker, 1877
Live Man, Live Strong, Another June Is Here , oil on canvas, by Frederick Oakes Sylvester, ca.1901
Joseph Pulitzer , oil on canvas, by Leopold Horowitz, 1902
River Birches , oil on canvas, by D. Dawson-Watson, ca.1910
Solitude , oil on canvas, by Oscar Berninghaus, 1920
Old Rock House , oil on canvas, by Oscar Thalinger, ca.1932
Planting Trees in Forest Park , oil and tempera on canvas, by Jacob Burck, 1938
Urban Landscape , watercolor, by Jessie Beard Rickley, undated
Perryville Station , oil on canvas, by Martyl, 1940
Gray Barn , oil on canvas, by Joe Jones, 1948
Rainy Night, Grand and Olive , oil on canvas, by Fred Conway, ca. 1970
Rail Yard , watercolor, by Stan Masters, ca. 1980
St. Louis Riverfront, Looking North , watercolor, by James Godwin Scott, 1982
Dusk on the Missouri , oil on canvas, by R. H. Dick, 2003
Overlooking the Augusta Valley , oil on canvas, by Joan Parker, 2004
River City Morning , oil on canvas, by Billyo, 2010
ACCESS: The Art Collection is available for viewing during service hours 7:30 A.M.- 10:30 P.M., Monday-Thursday; 7:30 A.M.-5:00 P.M., Friday; 8:00 A.M.-4:00 P.M., Saturday; and 12:00 P.M.-8:00 P.M., Sunday, and by appointment.
Researchers are advised to call ahead concerning changes in hours due to University intersessions and holidays. The St. Louis Mercantile Library is located on levels one and two of the Thomas Jefferson Library building.
Questions about this collection should be referred to:
Julie Dunn-Morton
Curator of Fine Art Collections
314.516.6740
