Golden Collection
Golden Collection
Siegfried Gerhard Reinhardt
American, 1925 - 1984
1977
Oil on Panel
30 x 48 in. (76.2 x 121.9 cm)
Signed and Dated Lower Right
A lush still life of gilded objects, ornamental birds, shells, and reflective spheres, rendered with the meticulous, illusionistic precision that defined Reinhardt's mature style. Painted in 1977, the work exemplifies his signature blend of realism and surrealism — a mode sometimes termed "superrealism" — applied here to a private, contemplative arrangement of luxury and ornament rather than his more familiar figurative or religious subjects.
Reinhardt was one of St. Louis's most significant twentieth-century artists, a Washington University professor from 1955 to 1970 whose work was recognized nationally by Life and Time magazines and who remains best known locally for his murals at Lambert International Airport and his stained-glass windows for Emil Frei Inc. A large, ambitious still life like this represents the technical command that made his reputation, offering regional collectors a substantial example by an artist deeply tied to the city's postwar art history.
Siegfried Gerhard Reinhardt (1925–1984)
Born in Eydkuhnen, Germany, Siegfried Reinhardt emigrated to the United States with his family in 1928 and settled in St. Louis, where he became one of the city's most prominent twentieth-century artists. Though largely self-taught as a painter — he earned his degree in English Literature from Washington University in 1950 — his talent drew early national attention: Life magazine named him among nineteen important new American artists in 1950, and Time profiled him a decade later. Reinhardt taught at Washington University from 1955 to 1970 and was a prominent member of the St. Louis Artists Guild. He is best known for pioneering a style blending realism and surrealism, often called superrealism, and for his decades-long collaboration with St. Louis stained-glass artisan Emil Frei, for whom he designed windows from 1949 until his death in 1984. His most celebrated public commission is the series of murals depicting the history of aviation at Lambert International Airport. A Lutheran, Reinhardt frequently drew on Christian iconography, and his religious and figurative work remains held in numerous private and institutional collections.
A lush still life of gilded objects, ornamental birds, shells, and reflective spheres, rendered with the meticulous, illusionistic precision that defined Reinhardt's mature style. Painted in 1977, the work exemplifies his signature blend of realism and surrealism — a mode sometimes termed "superrealism" — applied here to a private, contemplative arrangement of luxury and ornament rather than his more familiar figurative or religious subjects.
Reinhardt was one of St. Louis's most significant twentieth-century artists, a Washington University professor from 1955 to 1970 whose work was recognized nationally by Life and Time magazines and who remains best known locally for his murals at Lambert International Airport and his stained-glass windows for Emil Frei Inc. A large, ambitious still life like this represents the technical command that made his reputation, offering regional collectors a substantial example by an artist deeply tied to the city's postwar art history.
Siegfried Gerhard Reinhardt (1925–1984)
Born in Eydkuhnen, Germany, Siegfried Reinhardt emigrated to the United States with his family in 1928 and settled in St. Louis, where he became one of the city's most prominent twentieth-century artists. Though largely self-taught as a painter — he earned his degree in English Literature from Washington University in 1950 — his talent drew early national attention: Life magazine named him among nineteen important new American artists in 1950, and Time profiled him a decade later. Reinhardt taught at Washington University from 1955 to 1970 and was a prominent member of the St. Louis Artists Guild. He is best known for pioneering a style blending realism and surrealism, often called superrealism, and for his decades-long collaboration with St. Louis stained-glass artisan Emil Frei, for whom he designed windows from 1949 until his death in 1984. His most celebrated public commission is the series of murals depicting the history of aviation at Lambert International Airport. A Lutheran, Reinhardt frequently drew on Christian iconography, and his religious and figurative work remains held in numerous private and institutional collections.
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