Siegfried Reinhardt

Who was Siegfried Reinhardt?

Siegfried Gerhard Reinhardt born July 31, 1925 in Eydkuhnen, Germany, died October 24, 1984 in St. Louis, Missouri was a prolific artist and teacher based for most of his career, 1955-1970 at Washington University in St. Louis, where he had taken his bachelor of arts degree in English Literature in 1950. He was also a prominent member of the St. Louis Artists Guild. He was the son of Otto Frederick and Minni Reinhardt, and emigrated with them in 1928. His best-known work is perhaps the series of murals he executed at Lambert International Airport illustrating the history of aviation. He was a pioneer in combining elements of realism and surrealism in a style known sometimes as superrealism. From 1949 to 1984 he worked with Emil Frei in the design and execution of stained glass windows, including the Easter Window in the Lutheran Church of the Resurrection, in Sunset Hills, Missouri, of which Reinhardt said:

Reinhardt, a Lutheran, often worked with Christian motifs and themes. His 1955 commission for Monsanto Company, "Mistress of Chemistry," deploys his wife Harriet in imagery combining traditional depictions of the Madonna; his 1953 "Crucifixion" receives extended discussion in Robert Henkes' "The Crucifixion in American Art". The Brauer Museum at Valparaiso University has three religious works in its permanent collection: "Resurrection," "Design for a Crown," and "Caiaphas."