Frank Breuer's Work On View At Saint Louis Museum

Breuer's work relates to commerce, the global economy and the anonymous and transitory elements within it. His printing technique reduces the scale of his subjects to intimate proportions, while his careful composition and subtle use of color reveal disarming beauty in the most generic and overlooked of subjects, such as logos on roadside signage and facades of generic warehouses.

Breuer began his career working in northern Europe and has recently—through invitations to teach at Harvard University and Grinnell College—shifted his attention to aspects of the American landscape. He focuses on the ubiquitous utility poles that link the country together and bear witness to the ever-increasing demands for energy and data. Breuer also photographs bricked-over storefronts in the Midwest, illuminating these relics of a shifting economy.

Breuer studied under Bernd and Hilla Becher in the mid-1990s. While his work is informed by their rigorously formal technique and interest in industrial typologies, he has developed his own approach both in his use of color and in his particular choice of subject matter.

Four of the works featured in the exhibition were acquired through donations from the Honorable and Mrs. Thomas F. Eagleton, making it a tribute to the ongoing commitment to German photography that they helped foster at the Saint Louis Art Museum.

Curated by Eric Lutz, assistant curator of prints, drawings, and photographs, Frank Breuer: Photographs will be on view in Gallery 321 through March 16, 2008.

The Saint Louis Art Museum is one of the nation's leading comprehensive art museums with collections that include works of art of exceptional quality from virtually every culture and time period. Areas of notable depth include Oceanic art, pre-Columbian art, ancient Chinese bronzes, and European and American art of the late 19th and 20th centuries, with particular strengths in 20th-century German art. The Art Museum offers a full range of exhibitions and educational programming generated independently and in collaboration with local, national, and international partners. -- www.stlouis.art.museum