Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University
One Brookings Drive, St Louis, Miichigan. USA
30 January – 27 April 2009
The Jefferson National Expansion Memorial - popularly known as the St. Louis Gateway Arch - is the tallest monument in the United States and an icon of modern architecture, its great stainless steel arc embodying strength, elegance and simplicity.
The Washington University in St. Louis will explore that history with an exhibition and symposium titled On the Riverfront: St. Louis and The Gateway Arch. Curated by Peter MacKeith, associate dean of the Sam Fox School and associate professor of architecture; and by Eric Mumford, associate professor of architecture.
On the Riverfront will profile the people, events and conditions that culminated in the 1947-48 competition from which Eero Saarinen's design was chosen, as well as the monument's subsequent construction and its place in American architecture.
"The significance of the Gateway Arch in Saarinen's career, as well as in the development of St. Louis' post-war identity, is unquestionable," says MacKeith, who also serves as St. Louis coordinator for Eero Saarinen: Shaping the Future.
"There is a degree of attention given to the Arch within the retrospective," MacKeith explains. "But the Arch is such an icon of St. Louis, condensing histories of place and purpose and civic pride, that we felt this would be a good opportunity to explore the broad civic vision that ultimately brought the Arch into being. It is a not a story of which people are really aware."
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