11/14/2024

ST. LOUIS - Saint Louis University Museum of Art (SLUMA) opens The Past Beneath Our Feet and Renaissance Man on Friday, Nov. 15. “The Past Beneath Our Feet” presents findings from two decades of exploration in Ireland by SLU professor Thomas Finan, Ph.D. “Renaissance Man” presents selected works by the Honorable Nathan B. Young Jr.

Renaissance Man: Paintings by the Honorable Nathan B. Young Jr.

A class of SLU art history students curated the selected works of Judge Nathan B. Young Jr. Young served the city of St. Louis as a lawyer, judge, historian and journalist while pursuing his creative passions as a novelist, musician and artist.

Young co-founded the St. Louis American and served as its publisher and an editorial writer for over 40 years. He was appointed judge of Municipal Court No. 2 in 1965, the first African American to serve in the position in St. Louis.

Young was also an artist and explored themes of race, anti-slavery, and civil rights in his artwork. Before his death in1993, the Saint Louis University Archives worked with Young to preserve his personal effects. Among his collections were over 500 acrylic-on-canvas paintings executed over a 20-year period between the mid-1960s and mid-1980s.

“Renaissance Man,” curated by students in ARTH 4900: Research Methods, presents a selection of works that demonstrate Young’s complex and multidimensional engagement with racial themes through the lens of art history. One of Young’s paintings reimagines American Gothic, with Shirley Chisholm, the first Black woman in Congress and the first woman to seek nomination for president of the United States, and segregationist Alabama Gov. George Wallace as the woman and man depicted in the scene.

Bradley Bailey, Ph.D., associate professor of art history, at SLU, said he worked with the SLU archivists to cull through the 500 paintings before presenting students with a smaller collection to work from. Students then worked to create the labels accompanying each painting.  The labels condense information about the work to roughly100 words. 

A self-taught artist, Young’s paintings reveal his knowledge of art history, particularly in the major European and American works depicting people of African descent, as well as images related to the American anti-slavery and Civil Rights movements. 

“Judge Young worked from some iconic pieces of art and his paintings reimagine these works with a focus on civil rights,” Bailey said. 

The students said their education at SLU had encouraged them to evaluate how art illuminates the world and who is and isn’t featured. 

Students in ARTH 4900 include Martha Barnds, Ella Bullock, Katherine Hoerner, Owen Hopper, Karson Million, Lucas Perez, Lear Rose, Madeline Shormas, Cindy Ton and Jasmine Williams. Young’s archive is managed by the University Archives in Pius XII Memorial Library. 

The Past Beneath Our Feet

“The Past Beneath Our Feet” presents the findings of Thomas Finan’s two decades of exploration in Ireland. Finan, an associate professor of history at SLU, has studied the history and archaeology of later medieval Ireland, particularly the borderlands of the Shannon River in Roscommon during the 13th and 14th centuries. 

As the director of the North Roscommon Archaeological Projects, Finan leads extensive surveys and excavations within the medieval lordship of Moylurg. This project aims to uncover and understand the complex social, economic and political dynamics of this historically significant region.

The SLUMA exhibit invites visitors to discover these artifacts for themselves and offers a peak behind the scenes at the tools of the trade.  Finan begins excavations with geophysical surveying to get a glimpse of what is under the surface and takes daily UAV photographs for excavation cuttings. Finan also engages in aerial photography, survey, and remote sensing to get the best possible lay of the land.

The artifacts discovered by Finan and the team go into the care of an archaeological conservator before heading to Ireland’s National Museum. 

Opening Reception

• When: 5-8 p.m. Friday, Nov. 15
• Where: SLUMA, located at 3663 Lindell Blvd 
• Admission: The event is free and open to the public. 

SLUMA is open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday-Sunday. Admission is free. For more information, call 314-977-2666 or visit www.slu.edu/sluma.