Located on the northmost edge of St. Louis University’s campus and housed in a stately, Beaux Arts building, the St. Louis University Museum of Art is a hidden gem in a city spoiled for choice when it comes to art museums. With four floors housing a diverse collection of contemporary art, Jesuit artifacts, and multiple galleries of rotating exhibitions, the free museum offers a quiet refuge to students and visitors looking to spend an afternoon appreciating fine art.
Two new exhibits, both of which explore history through an artistic lens, opened on the first floor on November 15. The Past Beneath Our Feet provides a detailed overview of SLU history professor Dr. Thomas Finan’s archaeological research on Medieval Irish society and culture, while Renaissance Man: Paintings by the Honorable Nathan B. Young Jr. analyzes the creative endeavors of a St. Louis lawyer, judge, and journalist.
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The Past Beneath Our Feet offers an in-depth look into more than 20 years of archaeological research led by Finan, an associate professor in the history department. His work focuses on the North Roscommon region of Ireland, with a particular interest in the later medieval period between the 13th and 14th centuries.
The exhibit brings together discoveries from the North Roscommon Archaeological Projects which explored three locations: Kilteasheen, an ecclesiastical site constructed around 1250 CE; the Rockingham Moated Site, a residence and marketplace linked to a family of Gaelic nobles; and The Rock of Lough Key, an island that houses well-preserved ruins of a medieval fortification.
“We worked on this production for well over a year, the staff explaining how museum productions work while I [wrote] the material. Even then I didn’t grasp the overall look,” Finan says. “It was only when I walked into the exhibit myself four days before the opening that it hit me. On the one hand, their vision made the whole thing flow for the visitor. On the other hand, it was quite emotional for me to see 20 years of my life displayed in this way.”
Providing context and a behind-the-scenes look into each seemingly small artifact—a dress pin, a belt buckle, some nails, pottery shards, coins, or animal bones—adds to our historical knowledge of Gaelic Ireland. Detailed descriptions of each step of the archeological research process encourage viewers to discover a deeper appreciation for the field as they learn how history is uncovered.
“A lot of History Channel–type shows make you think archaeology and history can be done in an afternoon. This show displays how it’s a longer-term process that takes time, expertise, and work,” Finan says. “We eat, sleep, and work archaeology when we are in the field, and it’s a great experience for everyone.” According to Finan, these discoveries are a true team effort, possible because of contributions from colleagues and students throughout the years. “An amazing group of young people all committed to the work,” he says. “I could not be more honored.”
Curated by students under the guidance of Dr. Bradley Bailey, an associate professor of art history at SLU, the second exhibit, Renaissance Man showcases selected artworks made by a Judge Nathan B. Young. Young—most widely known as the first African-American judge appointed to serve in St. Louis Municipal Court, the co-founder of The St. Louis American newspaper, and a civil rights advocate—was also a self-taught artist. The St. Louis University Archives preserved more than 500 of his acrylic paintings after his death in 1993.
As part of a project for Research Methods, an upper-level art history course, students composed labels for each piece, explaining the historical and artistic references in Young’s paintings while speculating on the connection between art and artist.
“Young produced over 500 paintings and we knew that we would have to drastically limit the scope of what we could exhibit given the space and timeframe in which we had to work. A solution to this problem was to focus on his engagement with the history of art, which was ideal for a course like this one on the methodological practices of art historians,” Bailey says. “This is the third exhibition that I’ve organized as part of this course, and every time the students have thrown themselves into it. It is wonderful to see the sense of ownership they have in it, having seen so many exhibitions by others and now having the chance to see their own writing on the gallery wall.”
The works featured in the Renaissance Man exhibit, created between the mid-1960s and mid-1980s, explore themes of racial identity, representation, and civil rights. Notable pieces in the collection include “Founding of the NAACP,” a visual history combining images and text; “Pinkie ‘Black’ and Blue Boy ‘Brown,’” reimagined versions of famous 18th-century portraits; and “American Gosherie Caricature,” a satirical reinterpretation of Grant Wood’s “American Gothic” featuring Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm—a civil rights advocate— standing next to Alabama Governor George Wallace—a notorious segregationist.
According to Bailey, Young made a compelling subject for a dedicated exhibition because of the depth and scope of his work. “From his civil rights advocacy to his activities as a journalist, historian, artist, and writer, [Young] really captures the breadth of interest and endeavor that we associate with the idea of the ‘Renaissance Man,’” he says. “As an artist, what Young may lack in technique I think he more than makes up for with his ingenuity, not to mention an impressive grasp of the history of people of African descent as subjects in European and American art.”
The Past Beneath Our Feet and Renaissance Man are on display at the St. Louis University Museum of Art, 3663 Lindell. Open Wednesday–Sunday from 11 a.m.–4 p.m.
Editor’s note: A previous version of this article misstated Dr. Finan’s title. SLM regrets the error.
