Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum and Newman Money Museum

Washington University, One Brookings Place
St. Louis, Missouri
Admission is free.  Parking meters for all parking spots.

Website: http://www.kemperartmuseum.wustl.edu/ 

The Kemper Art Museum has four galleries and a museum within the museum!   It is the only museum on the campus of Washington University.  Wash. U. has had an art museum since 1881 but this building was not built until 2006.  It is a vital part of the campus and is definitely a teaching museum.  

Florence Steinberg Weil Sculpture Plaza

On the upper level is the Bernoudy Permanent Collection Gallery. Here one sees about 50-60 of the 6000 pieces that are owned by Washington University. 

Here you will see a mixture of styles.  This well-known painting by Missourian George Caleb Bingham is titled Daniel Boone Escorting Settlers through the Cumberland Gap. 

This 1882 painting by French artist Julien Dupré is called Haying Scene.

There are also many more-contemporary paintings such as L’oeil du silence by the German born Surrealist painter Max Ernst.

Although the vast majority of the pieces are paintings there are a few other items on display.

In the middle of the Permanent Collection Gallery is the Teaching Gallery which basically every semester has on display museum-owned pieces curated by a professor to coordinate with a class being taught.  The current exhibit is called Abodes of Plenty: American Art of the Inhabited Landscape. 

This small gallery/exhibit currently includes Aqueduct Neat Rome by Thomas Cole. 

The two main-floor galleries, the Barney A. Ebsworth Gallery and the Garen Gallery, hold special exhibitions.  What drew us to this museum at this time was the Garen Gallery exhibit The Paintings of Sir Winston Churchill, which is near the end of its three-month display.  

About a week before our planned museum trip we contacted the education department to inquire about a free docent-led tour of the Winston Churchill exhibit.  We were very fortunate that a tour guide agreed to give us a 60-minute tour of the exhibit, as normally tours are only scheduled for groups of 10 or more. She was excellent so not surprisingly the tour group swelled to 14 as other museum visitors came into the gallery and joined us.  Winston Churchill painted about 600 paintings and this exhibit included 45 of them plus a bronze bust he had made. It was a delight to have such a superb guide take us through the exhibit which in itself was also excellently done.

The other gallery for special exhibitions had the following exhibit when we visited: To See Without Being Seen: Contemporary Art and Drone Warfare. This exhibit had numerous forms of displays including video rooms, web-based projects, sculpture, and photography, all in an interesting layout. 

In the lower level, is the 3000-square-foot Newman Money Museum which has been housed there since 2006, the year the Kemper Art Museum was built.

When one enters you are greeted by a Ben Franklin hologram.

There are numerous interesting money-related exhibits including…

Money Changers and Counters

Not Just a Pretty Face

Music to My Ears

 

This display of different forms of money is very interesting.

 

And what about a dollar bill that is really a $1.25 bill!

And there is the wall of money quotes. 

No museum is complete without a museum shop.  The shop sells books, exhibition catalogues, museum memorabilia, postcards, etc.

One offering at the museum I loved was the use of stools for those who chose not to stand the entire time.  The free stools were stacked on carts on both levels and were easy to carry around to different rooms for one’s sitting pleasure!

Lunch afterwards was less than 5 minutes away at Katie’s Pizzeria Cafe on Clayton Road - http://www.katiespizzacafe.com/menu.html.

Every one of us enjoyed the fried artichoke salad and fresh bread.  That salad is one of my favorites and I have enjoyed it numerous times at Katy’s Rock Hill location.

Some also ordered pizzas.

Comments:  This was a delightful museum.  One could see all the exhibits and the money museum thoroughly in under 2 hours including a tour so it was not overwhelming as a large art museum can be.

The lay-outs of the special exhibitions was excellent and the tour was fabulous.

Obviously the bulk of this museum is changing every few months so one should research the different current displays on the museum’s website when scheduling a visit.  The museum also offers lectures, study sessions, conversation series, spotlight talks, artist talks, and film screenings among other offerings.

In the fall of 2016, the museum will be celebrating its tenth anniversary with special events. 

Because the museum is on a university campus, our tour guide recommended coming on the week-ends when the parking is much less of an issue.

The museum is open every day but Tuesday (and holidays) from 11:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

St. Louis Union Station Memories Museum

1820 Market Street, St. Louis, Missouri 63101

Admission is free.  There is an hourly parking fee.
THIS MUSEUM NO LONGER EXISTS. 

This museum is located on the upper level of the Train Shed behind the terminal hotel for Union Station.

The museum includes memorabilia of Union Station, train travel, and the Station's role in St. Louis history.

When the Station opened on September 1, 1894, it was the largest terminal in the USA.  A model of the station is on display in the museum.

The highlighted history of the Station includes information about it's architect, Theodore Link.

Other history displays include several about the different trains that have pulled into the terminal.

The famous picture of Harry Truman holding the newspaper proclaiming Dewey as President of the U.S. was taken on Track 34 at Union Station.

A tribute is paid to the many soldiers who went through Union Station including over two million each month during World War II.

The museum has from prior days at Union Station many artifacts including dishes, lanterns, and time schedules. 

Even an old adding machine from early days is on display.

More miscellaneous artifacts.

 There are several outfits on display including those of a Pullman Porter.

Imagine wearing this as a working waitress!

 

No train-related museum is complete without a model train display.  Unfortunately this one included no working trains.

There was a display of several vintage streamlined toys.

One of the more interesting displays was this live-steam locomotive model that was completed in 1862 and is now owned by Union Station. It is over 7 feet long.

The Museum was developed in cooperation with the Museum of Transportation located in St. Louis County.  Many items displayed are on loan from the museum as well as other individuals or institutions.

When touring the museum one, of course, should take time to tour the Station itself.

The last train pulled out of Union Station on October 31, 1978.  In August 1985, after a $150 million restoration the Station reopened full of stores and eating establishments.  Unfortunately today, all but a handful of establishments remain open and the area under the Train Shed is virtually empty of people.

Fortunately in 2012 the the station was purchased and $30 million of renovations were done to the hotel portion.  Many original items remain including the Allegorical Window, built in 1894, and thought to represent the expanse of travel from one coast to the other with St. Louis in the middle.

Surrounding this window is the Whispering Arch.  If one stands facing the wall of the right side while another facing the wall on the left side, you can still speak to each other even though 40 feet apart and using a normal voice.

The Grand Hall with a 65 foot high ceiling was the main waiting room for the Station.  Today it serves as the lounge for the hotel and features beautiful and fascinating laser light shows on the ceiling in the evenings and anytime on request.

There are two restaurants in the hotel.  We ate at the Station Grille.

Before the meal was served wonderful chips were placed on the table.

The menu included salads, sandwiches, soups, burgers, and other items. 

Comments: This ended up being a interesting experience in that we learned when we arrived that part (perhaps half) of the museum had been dismantled and before we left we learned that the museum is closing.  Apparently all of the remaining businesses - except the hotel - will be closed by January 31. It is our understanding that this includes the museum. There are several plans in the making but apparently no definite decision has been made as to what will happen to the Station next.  Hotel employees told us that the hotel - a Doubletree - will be expanding into the upper level of the train shed. 

We were glad that we had this one last nostalgic walk through Union Station.  It was fun to be reminded of its great history in the small but nice museum.