Edward Eugene Boccia was born in Newark, New Jersey in 1921. Throughout his illustrious career as painter, poet, writer, lecturer, educator and world traveler, Edward Boccia has striven to stretch the boundaries of art and life expression. He is recognized today as one of those truly rarest of individuals, a Renaissance Man.
Boccia is best known as an American colorist/expressionist figurative painter utilizing triptychs and polyptychs. Many of his themes are related to Catholicism and Mysticism. He is a professor emeritus in the School of Art at Washington University in St. Louis where he also served as Assistant Dean. Following is a listing of the highlights of his professional career as an artist arranged chronologically:
1938- attended Art Students League in New York, New York
1939- awarded Fawcett Memorial Scholarship to Pratt Institute, New York
1942-45- First Army, Special Troops, Normandy Invasion
1948- Bachelor of Science, Columbia University, New York
1948- Dean, Columbus Art School, Columbus, Ohio
1951- Appointed to faculty of Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri
1952- Master of Arts, Columbia University, New York
1955- awarded St. Louis Art Museum Purchase Prize and Morton D. May Purchase Prize
1958- recipient of the Borsa di Studio by Italian government for painting in Italy
1959- attended L’Academia di Belle Arti, Rome, Italy
1960- guest instructor, University of Saskatchewan, Canada
1964- commissioned to execute murals, stained glass windows, Stations of the Cross for Newman Chapel, Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri
1965- guest instructor, Webster University, Webster Groves, Missouri
1966- commissioned to paint four murals for First National Bank, St. Louis, Missouri
1967- CBS national television, “Eye Art”
1969- 10 year Retrospective Exhibition, Spanish Pavilion, St. Louis, Missouri
1970- guest instructor, Fontbonne University, St. Louis, Missouri
1972- exhibition of drawings, Galleria Tornabuoni, Florence, Italy
1976- Bicententennial Invitational Traveling Exhibition, Missouri
1979- knighted to the Cavaliere Al Merito Della Republica by the Republic of Italy
1981- exhibition of paintings and drawings, Dada Gallery, Athens, Greece
1921- exhibition of paintings and drawings, Nornberg Gallery of Contemporary Art, St. Louis, Missouri
1985- retrospective exhibition of triptychs and polyptychs, Washington University in St. Louis, Steinberg Gallery of Art, St. Louis University and Fontbonne University Gallery, St. Louis, Missouri
1990- Order of the Crown, King St. Louis IX of France
1999- solo show, The Sheldon Concert Hall, Bellweather Gallery, St. Louis, Missouri
2000- exhibition of paintings and drawings, St. Bonaventure University, New York
2005- exhibition of paintings McCaughen and Burr Fine Arts, Webster Groves, Missouri
2008- celebration of the work of Edward Boccia, Newman Center, Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri
