Subject Files

The Charles Quest Papers include correspondence, news clippings, photographs, and personal biographical materials contained in five boxes. The papers are well-documented, due to Dorothy Quest's organization as well as her handwritten notes which are thorough and descriptive.

Charles Quest's tenure at Washington University in St. Louis (1944-1971) brought him into contact with many names well-known to students of 20th century American printmaking. Quest worked with Werner Drewes, Fred Carpenter, Fred Conway, Fred Becker, and Tonasko Milovich, among others. This collection reflects those relationships on both a personal and professional level. Washington University records, both administrative and academic, are included, and provide the researcher with an idea of the environment of Quest's teaching career. Because Quest remained at Washington University for twenty-seven years, the development of his career is largely centered in St. Louis.

This collection is informative not only about Charles Quest's artistic progress, but also highlights the activities of the entire St. Louis art community for this period. Materials relating to St. Louis civic groups, museums, schools and churches are included. Charles Quest's papers are valuable not only for the information pertaining to his immediate environment, but also for the materials relating to the broader political climate of early to mid-20th century.

Quest and his wife Dorothy were studying in Europe when forced to return to the U.S. because of the 1929 stock market crash. Quest participated in the ensuing New Deal government-sponsored programs such as the Public Works of Art Project and the WPA. His printmaking was strongly influenced by the international tensions of the Second World War, as seen in several grotesque images he created, which were as unsettling as were Goya's "Disasters of War." Quest's print "Nearing The End" was included in the "America In The War" exhibition organized by the Artists for Victory in the 1940's.

Also noteworthy when considering Quest's views of war are letters from several of Quest's former student commenting on their reactions to being taken from the creative life of a St. Louis art student and thrust into the demands of military life. The collection contains extensive materials on Quest's participation in exhibitions, including his one-man show at the Smithsonian in 1951. He participated in exhibitions on numerous college campuses, including Beloit, Carleton, and Maryville. Quest was a member of "Group 15" in St. Louis, and was active in exhibitions organized by the Library of Congress and the Boston Public Library. His works were represented by several private dealers. Quest participated in the "Arts in the Embassies Program" beginning in the 1960's; his woodcut "Heads of State" was selected by President Lyndon Johnson in 1967 for the White House, and his "Top Brass" was purchased by the Iranian Ambassador.

The collection contains extensive correspondence between Charles Quest and the directors of many museums, domestic and international, which included his works in their collections. Correspondents include A. Hyatt Mayer, James Thrall Soby, Carl O. Schniewind, Arthur Heintzelman, Charles Nagel, and others. Additionally, Quest's membership in several organizations of artists, including The Society of American Graphic Artists, the Print Club, and the International Graphic Arts Society, brought him into contact with Lynd Ward, Clare Romano, Theodore Gusten, Jacob Kainen, Virginia Dehn, and others.

The commissions for which Quest is perhaps best-known include his mural, "The Louisiana Purchase," for the Carpenter Branch Library, done in 1934 and destroyed in the 1960's, and his painting,"The Crucifixion," a replica of a work by Velasquez, which Quest painted for the Old Cathedral in St. Louis. Quest studied in Europe and later wrote that he was greatly influenced by the Old Masters as well as the cubists Juan Gris, Braque and Picasso. The effects of the latter group are readily seen in his experimentation with emerging modernism in his printmaking. The collection includes numerous photographs, both of Charles Quest and his family, and also of his works. The photographs of Quest's works are divided by the medium used. For the researcher interested in Quest's works, the index terms will include most of the works referred to specifically in correspondence. For those interested in the listing of Georgetown University's collection of Charles Quest's prints, ask to see the separate computer print-out.