History plays a strong role in many visual art exhibitions this fall.
The St. Louis Art Museum marks Missouri’s 200th anniversary of statehood, weaving centuries of pieces from Native Americans to Ferguson protests. Laumeier Sculpture Park hosts a project remembering the massacre of Bosnians at Srebrenica. And a show from the Smithsonian Institution visits the Kemper Art Museum with dozens of portraits of people, both alive and deceased, evoking links to political and social issues.
An “immersive experience” also is coming to town, with enormous projections of paintings by 19th-century French artist Vincent Van Gogh. Are digital projections artwork? They are in the case of originals by contemporary artists such as Lorna Simpson, whose “Heads” show up on one local museum’s facade. Who knows what Van Gogh would make of it, however.
‘2021 Hall of Fame Induction and Awards Exhibition’
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When Oct. 30-Feb. 12 • Where International Photography Hall of Fame and Museum, 3415 Olive Street • How much $5-$10; free to members • More info iphf.org
An exhibition at the International Photography Hall of Fame and Museum features masterworks by the 2021 Hall of Fame inductees — Dawoud Bey, Larry Burrows, Philip-Lorca diCorcia, David Douglas Duncan, Sally Mann, Pete Souza, Joyce Tenneson and Joel Sartore — and Professional Photographers of America.
Aida Šehovic: ‘ŠTO TE NEMA’
When Sept. 25-Dec. 19 • Where Aronson Fine Arts Center, Laumeier Sculpture Park, 12580 Rott Road • How much Free • More info laumeiersculpturepark.org
A performative project dedicated to victims of the 1995 Srebrenica genocide, Šehovic’s exhibition consists of porcelain coffee cups donated by Bosnian families. The more than 8,000 cups correspond roughly to the number of victims at Srebrenica, a city in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The installation, translated as “Why are you not here?,” includes posters, photographs and a documentary about the 15-year project that has been installed around the world.
‘Art Along the Rivers: A Bicentennial Celebration’
When Oct. 3-Jan. 9 • Where St. Louis Art Museum, 1 Fine Arts Drive, Forest Park • How much $6-$12; free for members, children under 5 and for all on Fridays; bicentennial half-price discount for adults Oct. 12-14, Nov. 9-11 and Dec. 14-16 • More info 314-721-0072; slam.org
A wide range of objects, including Osage textiles, German furniture, African American decorative arts and 1904 paintings, mark Missouri’s bicentennial in an exhibition arranged by theme at the St. Louis Art Museum. More than 150 artworks will focus on pieces along the Mississippi and Missouri rivers, including some from Illinois and contemporary responses to historic pieces.
Barbara Hines and Alexander McQueen Duncan: ‘Iceland From the Outside’
When Sept. 25-Nov. 13 Where Gallery at the Kranzberg, 501 North Grand Boulevard • How much Free; appointment required • More info kranzbergartsfoundation.org
Two artists, one Australian and one British, take separate approaches to painting the unusual landscape of Iceland, sometimes focusing on glaciers, ice floes and gravity. Visitors must make appointments to see the joint exhibition.
‘Beyond Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience’
When Oct. 1-Nov. 21 • Where Starry Night Pavilion, St. Louis Galleria, 1155 St. Louis Galleria, Richmond Heights • How much $24.99-$36.99, VIP and premium passes available • More info vangoghstlouis.com
Projections of hundreds of paintings by Vincent Van Gogh — including “The Starry Night,” “Sunflowers” and “Cafe Terrace at Night” — move and change as viewers walk through spaces filled with their colorful images, creating a feeling of being inside the artist’s masterpieces. The traveling exhibition sets up in a structure called the Starry Night Pavilion, which will also host weekly yoga classes with St. Louis-based Yoga Buzz.
‘Currents 120: Jess T. Dugan’
When Sept. 17-Feb. 20 • Where St. Louis Art Museum, 1 Fine Arts Drive, Forest Park • How much Free • More info 314-721-0072; slam.org
St. Louis photographer Jess T. Dugan displays 20 recent works, including portraits, self-portraits and still-lifes. Part of an ongoing project, the color photos represent inclusive ideas of gender and sexuality and are described as both outward looking and self-expressive.
Damon Davis: ‘All Hands on Deck’
When Sept. 17-March 27 • Where St. Louis Art Museum, 1 Fine Arts Drive, Forest Park • How much $6-$12; free for members, children under 5 and for all on Fridays • More info 314-721-0072; slam.org
Six large-scale photolithographs show protesters after the killing of Michael Brown in 2014. The images were originally pasted onto boarded-up storefronts in Ferguson, and like other photos of events there, were often shown around the world. A seventh photograph by Davis is included in the museum’s “Art Along the Rivers.”
Farah Al Qasimi: ‘Everywhere there is splendor’
When Through Feb. 13 • Where Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, 3750 Washington Boulevard • How much Free • More info 314-535-4660; camstl.org
A native of United Arab Emirates, Al Qasimi’s photo-based installation on CAM’s Project Wall will reflect on her family history. Her work frequently explores notions of culture, domesticity, escapism and labor.
‘in c/o: practice’
When Sept. 25-Nov. 11 • Where The Luminary, 2701 Cherokee Street • How much Free • More info theluminaryarts.com
An exhibition asks whether a Black feminist approach to making objects and accessing history might impel cultural institutions to become more supportive. It includes video, audio, sculpture and textiles by curator Andrea Yarbrough and artists Adero Knott, Nia-Amina Minor, Racha Tahani Lawler Queen and Blair Ebony Smith.
Kathy Butterly: ‘Out of one, many / Headscapes’
When Through Feb. 13 • Where Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, 3750 Washington Boulevard • How much Free • More info 314-535-4660; camstl.org
A ceramist for more than 30 years, Kathy Butterly creates small-scale sculptures, many less than 6 inches high. Pieces are subjected to sometimes dozens of firings in the kiln, changing the initial shape and colors. Some evoke female bodies, while others seem to fold in on themselves.
Lorna Simpson: ‘Heads’
When Through Feb. 13 • Where Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, 3750 Washington Boulevard • How much Free • More info 314-535-4660; camstl.org
Two animation videos, “Redhead” and “Blue Love,” are shown on CAM’s exterior facade. Using fragmented images from Ebony and Jet magazines circa 1950s-1970s, Lorna Simpson embellishes the black-and-white photos with brightly colored hair. Videos run from dusk to midnight.
‘Modern Japanese Military Art’
When Oct. 15-Feb. 27 • Where St. Louis Art Museum, 1 Fine Arts Drive, Forest Park • How much Free • More info 314-721-0072; slam.org
This special installation of objects includes paintings in the form of scrolls and screens, woodblock prints and figural pieces. Dating between 1894 and 1947, they reflect the militarized outlook of the empire of Japan for a half century.
‘The Outwin: American Portraiture Today’
When Sept. 10-Jan. 23 • Where Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, 1 Brookings Drive • How much Free • More info 314-935-4523; kemperartmuseum.wustl.edu
The Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum features winners and finalists of the triennial portrait competition from 2019 run by the National Portrait Gallery. The traveling exhibition of almost 50 photos, videos, drawings or other forms includes one by Jess T. Dugan, whose work will also be displayed this fall at the St. Louis Art Museum. Also included is “Black Virgin Mary” by Adrian Octavius Walker, a graduate of the University of Missouri-St. Louis. Artists were asked explicitly to submit works that respond to the current political and social context.
Shara Hughes: ‘On Edge’
When Through Feb. 13 • Where Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, 3750 Washington Boulevard • How much Free • More info 314-535-4660; camstl.org
Described as bridging the abstract and representational, paintings by Shara Hughes, often vivid and immense, may show gnarled trees and purply skies, but she says they “aren’t really about landscapes.” More than 30 works make up Hughes’ first major solo exhibition in the United States.
Sheldon Concert Hall & Art Galleries
When Nov. 5-Jan. 15 • Where Sheldon Concert Hall & Art Galleries, 3648 Washington Boulevard • How much Free • More info 314-533-9900; thesheldon.org
Six new exhibitions in the Sheldon galleries offer a wide range of approaches. With “Nocturnes,” painter Jane McKenzie observes her backyard or urban habitats from sunset to midnight. For “Redacted Landscapes,” Abbey Hepner investigates radioactive sites through aerial photographs. Tate Foley includes printed materials such as newspapers and religious tracts for “In Shadows.” Carly Slade, a sculptor and ceramist, displays buildings in 3D miniature form. Emmett Merrill says his lithographs combine Americana imagery with myth in “Tornado.” And Brett Williams, who never learned to play a musical instrument, tries to create his own sounds through machines in “Minimal.”
Stan Strembicki: ‘Lost Library’
When Through Oct. 16 • Where High Low, 3301 Washington Boulevard • How much • Free • More info kranzbergartsfoundation.org
After Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in 2005, photographer Stan Strembicki found a library’s books rotting in a field and documented them. The project continued for five years until the field was bulldozed. The gallery at High Low, a literary arts cafe, is open during cafe hours.
‘Woodlands: Native American Art From St. Louis Collections’
When Oct. 29-April 24 • Where St. Louis Art Museum, 1 Fine Arts Drive, Forest Park • How much Free • More info 314-721-0072; slam.org
For the first time, the St. Louis Art Museum says, it surveys historic and modern textiles, sculpture and graphic art by Indigenous artists from eastern North America. Wooden weapons, vessels, embroidery and more, especially from the 19th century, will be on display. Some are from the museum, and some are borrowed from private collections and other sites.