Artistic Heritage

On Saturday, March 5, the LSU Museum of Art at the Shaw Center for the Arts reveals to the public its newest exhibition, Art in Louisiana: Views Into the Collection, the reinstallation of its permanent collection. The first of its kind in Baton Rouge, the exhibition showcases many works that have not been seen in public for over a decade in an interpretive framework that enables viewers to consider the evolution of art in Louisiana like never before.

The exhibition is organized into eight galleries that reflect the evolution of decorative and fine arts in Louisiana as expressed in the museum’s unique collection, only a portion of which can be displayed at any one time. Comprised of over six thousand pieces, the collection encompasses a wide variety of artworks and genres: decorative silver, pottery, sculpture, metalwork, and portrait and landscape paintings, representing three hundred years of Louisiana history and revealing a great deal about the state’s landscape, heritage, and culture.

The museum’s nearly five-hundred-piece silver collection, for example, is one of the broadest collections of its kind, reflecting the well-developed silversmithing industry that flourished in antebellum New Orleans. Louisiana landscape paintings reveal the ways in which painters working within the newly developing American landscape tradition eschewed the historical figures and events of their European forebears to focus on the awe-inspiring, unpeopled wildernesses of America. The museum also holds many exquisite pieces of Newcomb pottery, multiple examples of European-style portraiture, and standout works by LSU alumni. “Our collection showcases the treasures of the university,” said Executive Director Daniel Stetson. “It allows the public to see the side of the museum that is, truly, a teaching place.”

Ten thousand square feet of interconnected galleries move the viewer fluidly through three centuries, beginning with early depictions of the cotton and sugar cane labor upon which the economy was founded and ending with powerful works inspired by Hurricane Katrina. Each gallery, designed by a guest curator with subject-matter expertise, provides a glimpse into the evolution of an artistic movement or period, as it was manifested against the backdrop of Louisiana’s unique landscape and diverse cultural heritage. Glass panels positioned within gallery walls assist museum-goers to make connections and distinctions across centuries of artistic transformation: on one side of the panel, carefully crafted pottery and textiles; on another, a salon-style arrangement of elegant portraits.

Although individual pieces will be rotated, Art in Louisiana will be a permanent fixture of the museum, enabling curators to provide regular exposure to all parts of the collection while simultaneously alleviating the need to rotate exhibits throughout the museum’s entire fifteen-thousand-square-foot exhibit space—a monumental task given the size of the space and the staff available, Stetson said. In the meantime, the museum will continue to curate rotating exhibits in its remaining galleries.

Neither will the reinstallation remain static, especially with respect to the gallery of contemporary art. Works here will be displayed on a thematically rotating basis, changing and expanding periodically to address particular motifs. Currently, works in the contemporary gallery address the theme of water—an element never far from the realities of life in Louisiana—from the environmental to the cultural to the political. Among other water-themed pieces, the gallery features Dawn Dedeaux’s sculpture Over Six Feet of Water, which marks the level to which the water rose inside the artist’s New Orleans home in the desperate days following Hurricane Katrina.

Alongside the collection, the museum will offer a series of lectures during March, April, and May at which guest curators will speak on the pieces in their galleries: William Rudolph (Andrew W. Mellon Chief Curator and the Marie and Hugh Halff Curator of America Art, San Antonio Museum of Art) on portraits and landscape, Claudia Kheel (consultant, Neal Auction Company; visiting professor, LSU; adjunct faculty, Tulane University) on the Louisiana Collection, Brandon McWilliams (assistant professor of costume design, LSU) on costumes and apparel, Charles Cage (in-house specialist on Silver and Books, Documents and Manuscripts, New Orleans Auction Galleries) on the silver collection, Dr. Sarah Clunis (assistant professor of art history, Xavier University of Louisiana) on twentieth-century art, and Sally Main (Curator emerita, Newcomb Art Museum) on Newcomb pottery.

The addition of the McKay Gallery—a section specifically geared toward children and art education—occupies a prominent place in the Art in Louisiana reinstallation. Executive Director Daniel Stetson, a passionate proponent of exposing children to the arts, noted, “Picasso once said, ‘Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.’ We socialize that childlike part of ourselves away. Art museums don’t need to intimidate—it’s okay to question, to explore.”

A sharp contrast to the quiet, contained fine-art galleries, the McKay Gallery exudes welcoming energy. Floors are carpeted in a bright patchwork design, and the space bristles with interactive books, iPads installed with educational programs, costumes recreated and inspired by Louisiana portraiture, and open areas for children to draw and display their work.

With hundreds of artworks exposed and available in density, Stetson explained that the reinstallation positions the museum as a flagship institution for the study of Louisiana art. The collection will continue to grow and change, Stetson said, representing multiple facets of the state’s culture through both historic and contemporary times; a rich mixture of antiquities, contemporary pieces, works by women, resident artists, and artists of color will refine the exhibition into an experience that is nothing short of exceptional. “A work of art isn’t complete until it’s viewed,” Stetson said. “It’s a powerful experience. Like Louisiana, the collection is diverse, but connected. It’s a gumbo.”

During the grand opening weekend, March 5 and 6, the museum is offering free admission to present the reinstallation of its collection to the public. On the 5th floor of the Shaw Center for the Arts. lsumoa.org.