JOSEPH P. VORST: MAKING OF AN AMERICAN SCENE PAINTER

PROMENADE DES ARTS 2024 SCHEDULE
Opening Reception Friday, June 14, 6-9pm
Exhibit Hours June 15-30, 11am-3pm Daily except Mondays
Closing Reception Friday, June 28, 6-9pm

Plus:
Kitchen Lithography Demonstration Saturday, June 15, 3-5pm
and:
Walking Map of Vorst’s Art Colony Connections
Art Encounters at the Art Center

This year’s Promenade des Arts celebrates the work of Ste. Genevieve Art Colony master painter and printmaker, Joseph P. Vorst.  Born in Germany, Vorst witnessed the ravages of WWI and witnessed the rise of Hitler (he even painted his portrait) before defecting to the US, landing in St. Louis just in time for the Great Depression to start its devastating march across the states.  Through all this, he worked vigorously in his medium capturing the “American scene” and telling the stories of marginalized people with whom he empathized through his own struggles as an unwanted immigrant.

During the 1930s, Ste. Genevieve became the home of a prosperous Art Colony.  Started by two women, the colony saw the joining of many iconic painters, most notably the “Diego Rivera of America” Thomas Hart Benton, who proliferated the most iconic style in American art history.  As part of the exhibit, you’ll receive a map that retraces Vorst’s life as a member of the Art Colony and a citizen of Ste. Genevieve.  You’ll see murals done by other colony members featured prominently in town, visit where they gathered, and walk the block owned by Vorst’s family (now inhabited by renowned pewter makers) affectionately called Vorest Park, after St. Louis’ famous Forest Park.