“Art is a good way at looking at the past and putting things into perspective,” Petruta Lipan, director of Saint Louis University Museum of Art, said.
That’s why SLUMA is opening a new exhibit on Feb. 26 called “Crossing the Divide: Jesuits on the American Frontier. This exhibition will attempt to inform the public and Saint Louis University students of the role of the Jesuits on the American Frontier.
The exhibition will focus on how the Jesuits crossed the divide. Many people only think about the physical continental divide on the mountains, but “crossing the divide” is actually a metaphor for how the Jesuits crossed the cultural divide when they encountered the Native Americans.
“The Native Americans gave the Jesuits their views without imposing them and both cultures learned a lot from each other. A lot of compromises were made about lifestyles, religions, and eventually both grew to understand each other,” Lipan said.
The gallery will have about 70 paintings from 1841-1847 by Nicholas Point, S.J. He lived on the frontier with several Native American tribes, and his paintings simply reflect his experiences.
“The paintings will be old and small, but there is an immediacy of each drawing. Each drawing is only seven to nine inches wide, but it so powerful that it draws you in,” Lipan said.
SLUMA will also put other objects into the exhibit that have never been on display before. One such item is the “Linton Album.” It is the chronicle of the work and travels of Pierre-Jean De Smet, S.J. There are 238 pages in the journal and a lot of these pages are reproductions, as the real journal pages could not be obtained.
“Other items that we will have will be in the displays,” Lipan said. “We will have objects that belonged to De Smet, and also Native American artifacts that are coming from the Campbell House,” Lipan said.
The Campbell House belonged to Robert Campbell, who was a famous fur trader on the frontier, and items on the display will include clothing, shoes and even maps.
For more information about the exhibit or about the museum itself, visit www.sluma.slu.edu.SLUMA is located at 3663 Lindell Blvd.
