When asked, “What are great ‘art’ cities?” I doubt that people usually immediately think of St. Louis. We are more associated with blues music and toasted ravioli. But the art scene in this city has a lot to offer.

The St. Louis Art Museum, for example: three floors housing an amazing collection of diverse media from pretty much all periods in art history. Downstairs one can find masks from ancient tribes or chairs from the pop-art era. Upstairs one could run into a Picasso or a rotating gallery showing the work of some modern artist. WU’s own Tom Huck had a showing of his prints in an upstairs gallery less than a year ago.

Currently showing in an intimate upstairs gallery is an installation of seven Ansel Adams photographs which honors the centennial of the artist’s birth. Adams is famous for his powerful black and white photographs of American West landscapes.

On the main level-in addition to numerous galleries including Chinese art, American Impressionism, and Renaissance art to name a few-there is the major exhibition gallery. From now until September 15, this venue is housing a special collection of Orazio and Artemisia Gentileschi’s work from the late 16th-early 17th century Baroque period.

This is a wonderful collection of Bible stories come to life in large, colorful, three-dimensionally rendered paintings. The styles of the father and daughter painters are so similar that the painting Dana, from the museum’s own collection, was recently attributed to Artemisia after it was long believed to be the work of her father. This mystery of the identity of the true painter was the inspiration for the exhibition, which features 65 paintings of the artists throughout half a dozen galleries. The true painter for several of the paintings in the exhibit is still under debate.

Artemisia emerged in Naples as the first important female artist in history and despite the limitations on women at the time she was able to live independently as an artist. Having been raped by a fellow artist when she was 18, she brings a personal perspective to her depictions of the Biblical rape story Susanna and the Elders. Her female characters throughout her work show a strength that captures her own idea of what it means to be a woman.

For students, the exhibit is $8 except on Fridays when it is free to everyone. The rest of the St. Louis Art Museum is free to everyone always.

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