Virtual Exhibitions

Saint Louis University Museum of Art is pleased to offer immersive online versions of several of its exhibitions, including images, text, multimedia elements and more.

The Civil War Imagined and Real

Timothy and Jeanne Drone’s recent gift of prints and artifacts serves as the inspiration for "The Civil War Imagined and Real." Their continued support inspires the imagination and enhances the learning of SLU students in a variety of disciplines. The exhibition "The Civil War Imagined and Real," opened on September 28, 2018 and offers a great opportunity for multidisciplinary engagement. Activities such as lectures, tours, community partnerships, and interactive media projects related to the exhibition create opportunities for students of all ages to expand their knowledge.

The exhibition includes prints by Kurz & Allison, Currier & Ives, and others, which offer a wide range of images that captured the public’s imagination. In addition, images from the Library of Congress and artifacts from SLU Medical Library illustrate the forgotten legacy the war had on medical advancements and public health. The images from the Library of Congress also illustrate technological advancements, such as aerial reconnaissance, the telegraph, long range weapons, the Minie bullet, the Gatling Gun, ironclad warships, submarines, and torpedoes.

The exhibition also features gifts of Civil War rifles and an ammunition box from James and Carolyn Drone. In addition to the prints in the "The Civil War Imagined and Real" exhibition, Timothy and Jeanne Drone gifted artworks by notable regional artists, such as George Caleb Bingham, Thomas Hart Benton, Joe Jones, Karl Bodmer, George Catlin, and many Mississippian and Native American artifacts.

View the Civil War Imagined and Real Virtual Exhibit

Race and Representation: Euro-American Depictions of Native Americans and Their Cultures

"Race and Representation: Euro-American Depictions of Native Americans and Their Cultures" is a joint effort of the art history course ARTH 4900 Research Methods and the Saint Louis University Museum of Art, and was inspired by the recent donation of art and historical artifacts to the University by Timothy and Jeanne Drone. The exhibition opened at SLUMA on December 7, 2018 and remained on view until May 26, 2019.

"Race and Representation" presents a selection of nineteenth-century Euro-American lithographs of portraits, activities, and rituals of Indigenous North Americans from the perspective of postcolonialism, a methodology for interpreting visual culture that brings the past and present results of imperialism to the foreground. Underscoring the reciprocating impacts that colonizers and the colonized have on each other, this exhibition seeks to provide a recontextualization of these images through the lens of Euro- and Native American relations.

Curated by associate professor of art history Bradley Bailey, Ph.D., and students Jordan Behenna, Nicholas di Napoli, Raegan Jackson, Braden Kirvida, Bailey McCulloch, Mary McGuire, Marguerite Passaglia, and Ela Sutcu, with the support of SLUMA director Petruta Lipan and registrar-collections manager Kathryn Reid, "Race and Representation" was conceived as an opportunity for advanced art history students to work directly with the University collection while benefiting from the experience of faculty and staff.

View the Race and Representation Virtual Exhibit

Too Hot to Sing

"Too Hot to Sing" is the result of Kasey Fowler-Finn’s research on how global warming directly affects the abilities of animals to find suitable mates. For this exhibition, she collaborated with sound artist Stephen Vitiello, whose recordings show how vibrational signals sound at different temperatures, and with Impact Media Lab, a creative agency for scientists.

Fowler-Finn’s study shows how climate change can impact mating success and, ultimately, survival of species that communicate through vibrations. It is important to note that more than 90% of insects use vibrations to communicate within and between species.

Vitiello and Fowler-Finn used a specialized laser recording device to record the sounds of insects as they moved on the stems and leaves of plants. Vitiello then manipulated the sound recordings to make them audible to humans.

This exhibition, a collaboration between a scientist and an artist, brings climate change into sharp focus as one of the existential challenges humanity faces.

View the Too Hot to Sing Virtual Exhibit

Persuasive Politics: Presidential Campaign Memorabilia

Persuasive Politics: Presidential Campaign Memorabilia combines centuries of presidential campaign memorabilia into an impressive, yet eclectic exhibition. A George Washington coat button; an "I Like Ike" cigarette pack; and a Votomatic voting machine (with butterfly ballots) used in the 2000 presidential election in Palm Beach, Fla., are among more than 700 campaign items ranging from the historical and stoic to the contemporary and whimsical.

View the Persuasive Politics Virtual Exhibition