Edward E. Boccia: Postwar American Expressionist
Join exhibition curator Rosa Berland as she introduces works by this underrecognized Italian American artist. Berland will speak about the selection of paintings, drawings, and never-before-seen journals by Edward E. Boccia (1921–2012) that are on view for the first time in New York City at the John D. Calandra Italian American Institute.
Throughout his long career, Boccia developed a new genre of contemporary monumental panel painting that functioned as devotional art while raising questions about ethical, philosophical, and stylistic problems in twentieth-century America. An imaginative and technically gifted artist greatly influenced by Max Beckmann and Philip Guston, Boccia produced work that expressed the crisis of morality experienced in the US in the face of war and consumerism. His bold paintings speak of desire, loss, and spirituality and provide a fresh perspective on what constitutes Italian American modernism. For more than thirty years, Boccia served as a professor of fine arts at Washington University, where he fostered generations of studio artists, thereby changing the landscape of American painting.
Berland notes: “By reintroducing the visitor to Boccia’s experimental work, this exhibition seeks to create new dialogue around the diasporic practice of this important and accomplished Italian American artist.”
EXHIBITION On view October 29, 2024–February 21, 2025
Gallery Hours: Monday–Friday, 9am–5pm
