ST. LOUIS, Feb. 28, 2023—Spanning 500 years and a wide variety of media and cultures, the Saint Louis Art Museum’s upcoming works on paper exhibition showcases recently acquired objects that have not yet been displayed in the museum’s galleries.
“New to the Museum: Prints, Drawings, and Photographs” is on view April 14 through July 9 in Gallery 235 and the Sidney S. and Sadie M. Cohen Gallery 234. The exhibition is free.
More than 2,400 works on paper have entered the museum’s collection since the 2016 exhibition “A Decade of Collecting: Prints, Drawings, and Photographs.” The upcoming exhibition will feature 65 of those works, ranging from a 2017 digital work created on a virtual platform by Indigenous artist Skawennati to an early 16th-century woodcut.
Emma Amos’ 1981 print “To Sit (with Pochoir),” for example, is the first work by the artist to enter the collection. The exhibition also builds on the museum’s strengths with Max Beckmann’s striking portrait of his wife, “Quappi with Violin” from 1930. SLAM’s holdings include the world’s largest collection of Beckmann paintings and prints, though “Quappi with Violin” wasn’t acquired until 2022.
“New to the Museum” also focuses on how these works arrived at the museum, in some cases illuminating local connections with numerous St. Louis donors, artists or subjects highlighted. Washington University art professor Leslie Laskey’s “Highlands” woodcut from the 1960s, for example, focuses on the now-demolished roller coaster that was a centerpiece of an amusement park that stood on the site of what is now St. Louis Community College– Forest Park.
“New to the Museum” is co-curated by Eric Lutz, associate curator of prints, drawings and photographs; Elizabeth Wyckoff, curator of prints, drawings and photographs; and Clare Kobasa, assistant curator of prints, drawings and photographs; with research assistant Hannah Wier.
A public opening celebration is scheduled for 5 pm on Friday, April 14, and the exhibition will be the focus of the museum’s free Family Sunday program from 1 pm to 4 pm on April 16.
CONTACT: Molly Morris, 314.655.5250, molly.morris@slam.org
Leslie J. Laskey, American, 1921–2021; Highlands, mid-1960s; woodcut; image: 11 1/2 x 24 3/4 inches, sheet: 25 1/2 x 38 3/4 inches; Saint Louis Art Museum, Gift of Yvette Drury Dubinsky and John Paul Dubinsky, Bill and Gina Wischmeyer, Dennis Cope, and Frank Schwaiger, in honor of Leslie J. Laskey's 100th birthday 47:2021; © Estate of Leslie J. Laskey
Press images for "New to the Museum"
Click on any the images in this gallery to download.
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Leslie J. Laskey, American, 1921–2021; Highlands, mid-1960s; woodcut; image: 11 1/2 x 24 3/4 inches, sheet: 25 1/2 x 38 3/4 inches; Saint Louis Art Museum, Gift of Yvette Drury Dubinsky and John Paul Dubinsky, Bill and Gina Wischmeyer, Dennis Cope, and Frank Schwaiger, in honor of Leslie J. Laskey's 100th birthday 47:2021; © Estate of Leslie J. Laskey
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Stephanie Syjuco, American (born Philippines), born 1974; “Total Transparency Filter (Portrait of N)”, 2017; archival pigment print; 40 x 30 inches; Saint Louis Art Museum, Funds given by Margery Campbell Fort and Jeffrey T. Fort; Gift of Stephen Bunyard, by exchange 91:2019; Courtesy of the artist, Catharine Clark Gallery, San Francisco and RYAN LEE Gallery, New York
