St. Louis Art Museum: Sculpture Garden Walk

Sculptures grace the grounds of the St. Louis Art Museum and in the Grace Taylor Broughton Sculpture Garden.

The sculpture park is in the back of the Art Museum and you can also see more sculptures throughout the area around the art museum.

I walked a total of .9 miles throughout the grounds with 13 feet of elevation gain using paved pathways and walking through grassy fields.

START OF THE WALK

I parked in the St. Louis Art Museum East Lot and then headed towards Fine Arts Drive making a right onto a sidewalk that led to a lookout over the Emerson Grand Basin Fountains and fronted by the Apotheosis statue.

Apotheosis of St. Louis – 1906- designed by American Charles Henry Niehaus then cast in bronze by American W.R. Hodges

Representing Louis IX of France (1214–70), the namesake of our city, this equestrian sculpture captures the king as a soldier.

During the 1904 World’s Fair, the statue sculpted by Charles Henry Niehaus was erected on the concourse of the Plaza of St. Louis, near the Park’s north entrance, where the Missouri History Museum now stands.

*Also since the statue is at the top of Art Hill you have a nice view of the Grand Basin.*

This statue served as a symbol of St. Louis until the completion of the Gateway Arch in 1965.

FRONT OF THE ART MUSEUM

Next, I crossed Fine Arts Drive and headed left in front of the building and back in the direction I had come before.

I passed by a few sculptures on my way. The first was on the right side of the entrance

Sculpture – 1914-15- by American sculptor Daniel Chester French

Reflects sculpture of course. French’s most famous work is the iconic figure of Abraham Lincoln in the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C.

Then on the left side.

Painting – 1914-15 – by American sculptor Annetta Johnson Saint-Gaudens

Done in Tennessee marble reflects an allegorical statue of a woman painting. He is best known as the sculptor of all the statues in Union Station in Washington D.C.

Look near the museum on the ground near the east wing is a large plug.

Giant Three-Way Plug, Scale A – 1970-71 by American artist Claes Oldenburg

Oldenburg produces monumental sculptures of everyday consumer objects. In this work, an enormous three-way electrical plug lies partially buried in the ground. The artist described it as resembling “an implement left over from war returning to nature.” He first installed the sculpture in this location in 1971, noting that the plug reminded him of historic architecture. Here, its arching lines and recessed spaces compliment the classical design of the Museum’s Main Building.

At .2 miles I went to the right onto the grounds just past the underground parking and found another sculpture.

Two Open Triangles Up Gyratory II – 1982- by American artist George Rickey

Two triangular forms shift atop this stainless steel construction. Relying on gravity, equilibrium, and other principles of physics, Rickey created kinetic sculptures that respond to wind currents, whether slight or more forceful. His spare geometric forms explore the fluctuating spatial relationships between the moving parts of this sculpture. He burnished the surface of his stainless steel medium to create varying areas of reflective polis.

From this sculpture, I went to the right of the art museum and entered the Grace Taylor Broughton Sculpture Garden.

Located throughout the garden are the sculptures so take your time to look for them. The Stone Sea sculpture is up some stairs to the back courtyard and then to a back right corner below you.

I listed the sculptures as I came across them.

GRACE TAYLOR BROUGHTON SCULPTURE GARDEN

Venus Victorious– 1914-16 – by French artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Pierre-Auguste Renoir represents Venus, the Roman goddess of love, beauty, and fertility, as the victor in a contest to decide the most beautiful of the ancient goddesses.

She carries a golden apple as her prize. Renoir is best known as an Impressionist painter but also created a small number of sculptures in his final years.

Two Piece Reclining Figure No. 2– 1959-60 also by English artist Henry Moore

Henry Moore produced an extensive sculptural series of the abstracted human body in two parts.

The artist found in these sculptures “a metaphor of the relationship of humanity with the earth.”

Two Piece Reclining Figure No. 1 – 1959- by English artist Henry Moore

This massive sculpture represents the first time that Henry Moore separated the two elements of the human torso. The head and upper body are clearly visible in one piece and an upwardly projecting leg in the other.

Confluence -1964-65- by Japanese artist Masayuki Nagare

Masayuki Nagare sculpted an arching curve of granite, counterbalancing the rough and polished surfaces of the stone.

The Japanese artist visited St. Louis in 1964, and this work, inspired by the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers, suggests the changing swell of water and waves.

The Bather – 1923-25 – by French artist Jacques Lipchitz

The prominent Cubist sculptor Jacques Lipchitz has deconstructed the form of a bather into rounded geometric shapes. Visible are the head (with single eye represented) shoulders, torso, and legs placed at right angles to each other. The right side of the body seems to twist or turn in contrast to the more static left side.

Hercules and the Hydra – 1921-30 – by German sculptor Mathias Gasteiger

In this over-life-sized sculpture, the Greek mythological hero Hercules battles a many-headed snake that has terrorized the countryside. Dramatically balanced on one leg, he wields a large club.

The Mountain from the back with the main blog photo from the front.

The Mountain – 1937 – by French sculptor Aristide Maillol

A seated female figure bends over with one knee raised in a triangular form that suggests a mountain. Her lower right leg is embedded in the statue’s base, expressing a sense of union with the earth.

Stone Sea -1912 – by English artist Andy Goldsworthy

Goldsworthy drew inspiration from St. Louis geology and the city’s underlying bedrock of limestone, formed in prehistoric times when the Midwest was covered by sea. Using limestone from a local quarry, Goldsworthy constructed twenty-five unique arches employing ancient Roman dry stone engineering. This dense network of stone arches each measures about ten feet high and weighs 300 tons in total.

To the left of the Stone Sea is a fenced-in courtyard with sculptures.

Then I went towards the front of the sculpture garden near Valley Drive and found Standing Figure and Charioteer near the art museum.

Standing Figure-1950-by Henry Moore

Henry Moore represents an abstract figure with two-pin-like eyes, thin strips to represent arms and legs, and bulkier forms indicating hips and knees. Two triangles at shoulder height resemble shields and give a warrior-like quality to the sculpture.

Charioteer-1982-Bryan Hunt

Made up of two forms: the abstracted headless body of a chariot driver and the parallel vertical of the driver’s elongated reins. Inspired by a more naturalistic sculpture from the 5th-century BC Greece.

Next, I walked past the building and headed back into the grass on the west side of the building.

I came to Detached III.

Detached III – 2012- Rachel Whiteread

The sculpture gives concrete form to the empty or negative space within the every day, prefabricated backyard shed.

Whiteread captures the intricated wood grain imprint of the shed’s door and sides, as well as the impressions of windows. The work’s title alludes to the artist’s view of the garden shed as a space for quiet thought and reclusive steady.

As I walked, I noticed a tall metallic tree which is Placebo.

Placebo – 2004- by American artist Roxy Paine

Situated among the trees of Forest Park, this monumental sculpture interacts with the surrounding built and natural environments.

Through its form, the work relates to the real trees nearby while its precise and reflective stainless steel surface poses a contradiction.

Made by welding together standard industrial piping, Placebo highlights the complex relationship between the man-made and the natural world.

*Sculptures and even this lion can be found on the front of the building.*

Last Part of Walk

Then I headed around to the front of the museum again noticing a lion’s head in front of an art museum window.

Then I noticed the intricate designs on an art museum light pole before returning to parking.

(Information on the statues is courtesy of the Saint Louis Art Museum and Forest Park Forever.)

*Front of the art museum with the sculptures on top.*

Final Thoughts

The walk around the art museum to see outside sculptures is mostly unpaved walking across grass along with some stairs so it is not stroller-friendly.

Checking out the other sculptures scattered out on the grounds beside Grace Taylor Broughton Sculpture Park adds to the variety that you can see.

This is an additional activity if you are spending a day at the Art Museum or doing another activity in Forest Park.

DETAILS:

Drive: Take Interstate 64 to Exit 33 and go north on McCausland which becomes Skinker Boulevard. Then make a right onto Lagoon Drive and then go right onto Fine Arts Drive. Parking for the St. Louis Art Museum and grounds is on the left just after the museum.

Hours: Park closed from 10 pm – 6 am

Address: 1 Fine Arts Dr, St. Louis, MO 63110