Sheldon Art Galleries in Collaboration with Cinema St. Louis Presents VINCENTENNIAL: THE LEGACY OF VINCENT PRICE 4/22-8/6

In collaboration with Cinema St. Louis, the Sheldon Art Galleries presents the exhibition Vincentennial: The Legacy of Vincent Price from April 22 - August 6, 2011. A free opening reception at the Sheldon Art Galleries will be held on Friday, April 22, from 6 - 8 p.m. Cinema St. Louis will hold a Vincentennial film festival from May 19 - May 28, 2011. More information on the film festival is available at www.vincentennial.com.

An examination of Price's life and legacy, Vincentennial: The Legacy of Vincent Price will feature a collection of Price mementos, heirlooms, images, artifacts and memorabilia and will be displayed in the Ann Lee and Wilfred Konneker Gallery and an adjoining room at The Sheldon. The exhibition is curated by Tom Stockman. The Sheldon is located at 3648 Washington Boulevard , around the corner from the Fabulous Fox Theatre, where Vincent Price's film debut, Service Deluxe, premiered in 1938. Gallery hours are Tuesdays, Noon - 8 p.m.; Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, Noon - 5 p.m.; Saturdays, 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. and one hour prior to Sheldon performances and during intermission. Admission is free. For more information on the exhibition visit the galleries' website at www.thesheldon.org/galleries.asp. The exhibition is underwritten by Mary Strauss.

Vincent Price was born in St. Louis on May 27, 1911 and this spring marks the 100th anniversary of his birth. Price was a Renaissance man who became an iconic movie star, was a gourmet chef, author, stage and radio actor, speaker, world-class art collector and raconteur. His long career stretched over 55 years, beginning in 1938 at the height of the golden age of Hollywood cinema, and reached its apex with his legendary horror films of the 1960s and '70s. His later years were equally prolific, with an array of voice work and fine performances in films like The Whales of August and Edward Scissorhands. Although sometimes regarded as a camp figure (which he playfully encouraged in some contexts), Price was nonetheless an actor of real range and substance. Price loved St. Louis and was proud of his roots. He gave much to the city and the exhibition honors his legacy and his heritage, illuminating his long and rich career.

The exhibit is compiled from local and national collections and highlights include Vincent Price's baby shoes; his baby book, which chronicles his birth and includes his baby mittens, locks of hair and other items; his high school yearbook; a sympathy letter Vincent Price wrote to Evie Karloff on the death of his friend, Boris Karloff; a drawing by Price of the actress Helen Hayes when they were on-stage in London in the 1930s; his SAG and AFTRA cards; a postcard to Vincent Price from Ernest Hemingway; theatre programs and movie posters; awards he received; and life-size figures of characters he played (one wearing an original costume he wore in the film House of Wax) among other items.

Vincent Price Biography:

 

Vincent Price was born in St. Louis on May 27, 1911 to Marguerite Cobb Price and Vincent Leonard Price, Sr. Vincent's father was the president of the National Candy Company, which at one time was the largest candy company in the world, specializing in jawbreakers and jelly beans. The Price family moved to St. Louis from Chicago to market their candy at the 1904 World's Fair. His grandfather, Vincent Clarence Price, invented Vincent Price's Baking Powder, the first cream of tartar baking powder, which secured the family's fortune. When Vincent was born, the Price family lived in a home on Washington Avenue but had a house built at 6320 Forsyth, near the campus of Washington University. It is this house which is considered his boyhood home. Price attended St. Louis Country Day School, an all-male private school from 1923 until 1928. He spent many hours at the nearby St. Louis Art Museum, where he cultivated his interest in art collecting. He graduated from Yale University in 1933 and spent a year as a schoolteacher before enrolling at the University of London in 1934 to pursue a master's degree in fine arts. His burgeoning interest in the theatre, however, soon led him to pursue an acting career. He first appeared onstage in a London production of the play Chicago and next portrayed the leading role of Prince Albert in Victoria Regina (both 1934). The latter production was particularly successful and was opened on Broadway in New York in 1935 as a vehicle for lead actress Helen Hayes. Price stayed with the production for three years. 

While in New York, Price joined Orson Welles' Mercury Theatre, an ensemble of radio actors performing leading roles in several Mercury productions. In 1938, the 6-foot-4-inch actor traveled to Hollywood where he made his screen debut in the film Service Deluxe. He eventually landed lead and character roles in such popular films as House of Seven Gables (1940), Laura (1944), Leave Her to Heaven (1945) and Champagne for Caesar (1950). He portrayed romantic leads and classical characters during this period but was at his best when playing evil men for dramatic or comedic effect, as in the low-budget Shock (1946). By the 1950s, Price had accumulated a diverse résumé, but had yet to establish himself as a major star.

Vincent Price's big break came with the 1953 3-D hit House of Wax in which he played a murderous sculptor who uses human victims to populate his eerily life-like wax museum. With this film, he established himself as America 's master of the macabre, and soon performed in many other horror films including The Fly (1958), House on Haunted Hill (1958) and The Tingler (1959). Price did not limit himself to horror, and demonstrated his range with memorable performances in movies like the Bob Hope comedy Casanova's Big Night (1954), While the City Sleeps (1956) and the epic The Ten Commandments (1956), but he will always be best known for his roles in horror movies. "The best parts in movies are the heavies," Price said in a 1971 interview. "The hero is usually someone who has really nothing to do. He comes out on top, but it's the heavy who has all the fun."

In the 1960s, Price appeared in his most acclaimed series of films: adaptations of several Edgar Allen Poe short stories, directed by Roger Corman. Often appearing with fellow horror veterans Boris Karloff and Peter Lorre, Price delivered memorably menacing performances in the films House of Usher (1960), The Pit and the Pendulum (1961), Tales of Terror (1962), The Raven (1963), The Masque of the Red Death (1964) and The Tomb of Ligiea (1964). It was during this period that Price attained cult-figure status, especially among the younger generation, and he gleefully parodied his own gothic image in such farces as Beach Party (1963), Comedy of Terrors (1963) and Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine (1965).

Price's popularity continued into the 1970s with movies like The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971) and Theatre of Blood (1973) though his menacing screen presence was in direct contrast to his off-screen reputation for kindness and generosity. In the mid-'70s Price cut back on his film roles to devote himself to his other passions in life: fine art and gourmet cooking. In 1951, he established the Vincent Price Gallery and Art Foundation on the campus of East Los Angeles Community College , to which he donated much of his important art collection. He donated generously to museums and art foundations throughout his life, including a portfolio of prints by Paul Gauguin to the Saint Louis Art Museum , and in 1972 he wrote the best-selling coffee-table book A Treasury of American Art. With his second wife, Mary, he co-authored several cookbooks and co-hosted several television cooking shows throughout the 1960s and early '70s. Their A Treasury of Great Recipes (1965) is well regarded. Price returned to the New York stage in 1978 with his acclaimed portrayal of Oscar Wilde in the play Diversions and Delights. He continued to accept occasional film and television roles throughout his later years; two of his final performances - The Whales of August (1987) and Edward Scissorhands (1990) - were particularly memorable. Vincent Price died in Hollywood on October 25, 1993.

The not-for-profit Sheldon Art Galleries exhibits works by local, national and International Artists in all media. Over 6,000 square feet of the galleries' spaces on the 2nd floor are permanently devoted to rotating exhibits of photography, architecture, jazz art and history, and children's art. A sculpture garden, seen from both the atrium lobby and the connecting glass bridge, features periodic rotations and installations, and the Nancy Spirtas Kranzberg Gallery on the lower level features art of all media. The Sheldon actively supports the work of St. Louis artists in all mediums and features a dedicatEd Gallery with museum-quality exhibits by St. Louis artists, past and present.

Financial Assistance for the Sheldon Art Galleries is provided by the Missouri Arts Council, a state agency, the Regional Arts Commission and the Arts and Education Council and many generous individual and corporate donors. 

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