Friday, October 9, 2009

The Pulitzer Foundation

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The Pulitzer Foundation For the Arts is a small jewel, little known outside St. Louis. It opened in 2001 with support from the estate of the late Joseph Pulitzer and the continuing gifts of his wife, Emily. Pulitzer was the publisher of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch for 34 years and, yes, that's the family that established the Pulitzer Prize.

The building is small for a museum but breathtaking, designed by the Japanese architect Tadao Ando. The Pulitzers had one of the greatest collections of modern art of the 20th Century, which has become the backbone of the Foundation. It is more focused on scholarship than display and is open to the public only two days a week. If you are an art lover and visit St. Louis, it's a don't-miss.

The Pulitzers were close friends of the contemporary sculptor Richard Serra. He created the sculpture Joe as a memorial. It sits in the Foundation's courtyard. The work is a tall, tilted spiral, winding inward and inward. The photo above shows only the entrance.

On another topic, Virginia has been pleading with me to post the photo of the bunny from the blessing of the animals, mentioned in Tuesday's post. So here it is.

4 comments:

Sharon said...

I will put this on my list the next time I visit St. Louis. I love your photo of the entrance. The lines of the walls agains that wonderful sky is just gorgeous.

Virginia said...

Le lapin est trés belle! Merci!!!

Now about that sculpture. It looked familiar and I just searched Peter's blog and found that indeed Sera's "Clara Clara" was installed smack dab at the entrance of Tuileries last year. It was not well received as it blocked the commanding view from the Place de la Concorde to the CHamps Elysees. Having seen it in person I had to agree. Thankfully it was removed and Paris can settle down for a while!:) Perhaps your Sera there in the Lou is in a more appropriate place.

cieldequimper said...

That's a very intriguing sculpture. Can you show us more?

Three Rivers, Michigan said...

A nice photograph of the sculpture, very dynamic. The contrast with the sky is wonderful. If I get to St. Louis, I'll look for it - I assume it is "better placed" than it was in Paris, and will stay put!

http://threeriversdailyphoto.blogspot.com/