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Past Exhibitions

Browse the chronological list of past exhibitions at the Saint Louis University Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCRA), or search for a specific exhibition. Click “View” for more information about an exhibition. If you need further information about an exhibition, please contact us.

Bernard Maisner: The Hourglass and the Spiral

Bernard Maisner: The Hourglass and the Spiral

February 3, 2017 to April 2, 2017

Bernard Maisner (b.1954) is regarded internationally as one of the greatest contemporary masters of calligraphy. Maisner first became familiar with illuminated manuscripts during his studies at The Cooper Union in New York. He went on to teach Medieval and Renaissance manuscript illumination methods and techniques and was a guest lecturer and researcher at such prominent institutions as the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris, the Cloisters Museum of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Getty Museum in Malibu, California, and the Morgan Library and Museum. His work is represented in some of this country's most prestigious private and public collections, including the Morgan Library and Museum and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

An accomplished painter as well as a master calligrapher and manuscript illuminator, Maisner brings together materials and design in unexpected ways. He engages texts from diverse, sometimes surprising sources (Kierkegaard, Nin, Kafka, and Heraclitus, to name just a few) and arrives at a vibrant compositional and scribal expression strongly rooted in the past but conveyed with a fresh contemporary visual vocabulary. Maisner's simultaneous search for meaning through his art takes him in the direction of the infinite, of opposites, of things mystical and unanswerable. The result is stunning works of art that are ravishing in their beauty and intriguing in their mystery. More recently Maisner has made a foray into social calligraphy, creating elaborately embellished styles of writing for clients including Oprah Winfrey, Alicia Keys, and Sir Elton John. He is also on-call for Hollywood; his hands have played Johnny Depp in Sleepy Hollow, Daniel Day Lewis in Age of Innocence, and Sean Connery in Finding Forrester.


Long-time visitors to MOCRA may recall that in 1998, MOCRA organized an exhibition of Maisner's work titled Entrance to the Scriptorium that traveled nationally to five venues. That exhibition was made possible through significant financial support and loans of artwork from Peter and Helen Du Bois. Helen recalls that they enjoyed exploring the New York galleries together, and discovered Maisner's work at the Cavin Morris Gallery. According to Helen, they both were "immediately impressed with the intricacy and beauty of Bernard's works. Peter seemed always to be drawn to artists who expressed some kind of spiritual feeling. This is certainly true of Bernard's works." Peter Du Bois died in March 2015. Later that year, Helen donated to MOCRA six of Maisner's large-scale paintings, which the artist describes as "giant miniatures." We are pleased to display these works, alongside a number of smaller scale works by the artist, also from the Du Bois collection. MOCRA Director Terrence Dempsey, SJ, notes that, "Through this exhibition we wish to thank Helen for her generous gift, and honor Peter's memory."

I believe those of us that are puzzled by our own existence are the ones that are called spiritual. Art that acknowledges or points to these unanswerable questions is seen as spiritual. Some people see life as a mysterious, unknowable gift, unexplainable and undefinable. One can marvel, focus, pay attention to and honor the unknowableness of life. One can study the mystery of life without a desire for explanation. Herein lies the spiritual for me. | Bernard Maisner

above:
Installation view of Bernard Maisner: The Hourglass and the Spiral at MOCRA, 2017. Photo by Jeanie Stephens.


Related programming

“The Hand Acts Out a Joyous Dance”: Celebrating the Art of Bernard Maisner

Bernard Maisner: “The Art of the Illuminator”

Two Lectures: Ellen Dissanayake and Jack Renard


Watch “The Hand Acts Out a Joyous Dance”: Celebrating the Art of Bernard Maisner on the MOCRA Voices Vimeo channel