The State Historical Society of Missouri

Muralist, easel artist, teacher, mentor, and conservator, Sidney Larson served as art curator of The State Historical Society of Missouri for forty-three years. Under his leadership, the Society’s art collection grew into an unrivaled state treasury of works by Missouri artists from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. He died at his home in Columbia on May 21, 2009.

Larson became the art curator of the State Historical Society in 1961. With executive directors Richard S. Brownlee II, and James W. Goodrich, he expanded the Society’s holdings of Missouri-related artworks to an unequalled collection featuring notable paintings and drawings by George Caleb Bingham and Thomas Hart Benton; developed a contemporary art collection; and significantly expanded the editorial cartoon collection. He assembled and hung innumerable shows and used his expertise as a conservator on Society artworks, including several Bingham portraits.

Christine Montgomery, State Historical Society photograph specialist who worked with Larson for five years, remembered him fondly, “He was a teacher, first and foremost. He cared about other people learning and growing. Sid was a lot of fun to be around. He saw something positive and joyful in every day.”

Born in Sterling, Colorado, Larson served as a pharmacist’s mate in the U.S. Navy during World War II. Following the war, he came to Columbia to attend the University of Missouri, intending to pursue a career in medicine. While taking art classes from MU professor Fred Shane, Larson determined instead to become an artist and teacher. He received both the bachelor’s degree and the master’s degree from MU.

Sid Larson joined the Christian College (now Columbia College) art department faculty in 1951. Over the next fifty years as teacher, artist, and department chair, he inspired and influenced more than ten thousand aspiring artists. Columbia College honored Larson’s myriad contributions by naming the college gallery the Sidney Larson Art Gallery. Upon his retirement in 2001, the college recognized his fifty years of service and named him Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Art. Dr. Terry Smith, Columbia College executive vice president and dean for academic affairs recalled, “He was truly a renaissance man.”

Through Fred Shane, Larson became acquainted with Thomas Hart Benton, serving as resident assistant for Benton’s mural at the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library in Independence and restoring the Missouri State Capitol murals, including Benton's murals in the House Lounge. The two artists formed a relationship that lasted through Benton’s lifetime.

Larson’s legacy is widespread in the art world, in the Midwest, and in his home community of Columbia. His murals grace the architectural landscape of the Midwest from churches in Oklahoma and Arkansas to the Columbia corporate headquarters of Riback Supply Co. and Shelter Insurance, to the Jefferson City Municipal Building and Columbia’s Guitar Building. His works at the Boone County Courthouse and the Columbia Public Library reflect the history of Boone County, including the founding of the University of Missouri.

Among Larson’s many honors are the Distinguished Service Award from the Society in 1989 and a 1991 award from the Missouri State Council on the Arts “for significant contributions in art.” He received the Arts and Science Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Missouri in 1999, capped in 2000 by receiving the university’s prestigious Faculty-Alumni Award. He was named Missouri’s Professor of the Year in 1987, and that same year the Council for Advancement and Support of Education named him National Professor of the Year bronze medalist.

Larson’s wife of fifty-two years, George Ann Madden, who had encouraged his art studies early in their life together, died in 1999. He married Mary Wells of Columbia in 2003, and she survives him. Two daughters, Cathy Larson and Nancy Moneke, and a sister, Dorothy Clark, also survive.

Dr. Joan Stack, who succeeded Larson as art curator at the State Historical Society, reflected, “As an artist, Sid had an eye for quality and an affinity with the best artists in the state. Everyone in the art community knew and liked Sid, and they had confidence that the artworks they donated to the Society would received the finest care and appreciation. Sid’s friend, Thomas Hart Benton, personally donated a number of artworks to the Society because he knew that Sid was committed to assembling one of the best collections of Missouri art in the country.”

The Society invites gifts to the Sidney Larson Fund, created when Larson retired and became art curator emeritus, to continue expansion of the art collection. For more information, contact Gary Kremer, executive director, or Carole Sue DeLaite, development officer, at delaitec@umsystem.edu or (573) 882-7083.