On March 4, the LSU Museum of Art will launch its largest-scaled enterprise to date.
“Art in Louisiana: Views into the Collection” is the biggest undertaking the museum has had since its grand opening at the Shaw Center for the Arts 10 years ago. The two-year-old project will occupy over 6,000 square feet on the museum’s fifth floor.
The installation consists of seven galleries containing hundreds of pieces. A majority of the art is part of the museum’s personal collection, along with few loaned works. Not all of the displayed artists are from Louisiana, but every piece has a story which impacted Louisiana culture and history.
“We want to be a hub for the study and the understanding of Louisiana art,” Executive Director of the LSU MoA Daniel Stetson said.
The works on display date from the 16th to the 21st century. The collection includes a variety of forms and mediums, including paintings, sculpture, photography, pottery, fine silver and contemporary works. Each gallery has an ongoing theme which is linked to the other rooms in the exhibition and shows the connection between works.
“I like to think of it as open storage,” Stetson said. “The fact that we are letting you inside, welcome to our house. Come on in.”
The contemporary gallery is split into three sections: works on nature, works by women and works by artists of color. The final exhibition “Total Immersion: Water and the Louisiana Landscape,” is inspired by the construction of the Water Campus in Baton Rouge, which will be a research campus devoted to the study of coastal restoration and sustainability.
The first gallery serves as an introduction into Louisiana with the Antebellum period, then moves into a fine silver presentation. From there, the exhibit’s themes include a Newcomb College pottery collection and landscape paintings. English, French and Louisiana portraiture, modern art and a water-themed gallery are also included.
“Instead of intermingling it, [the works] here are big portions of the collection you can study in depth,” Stetson said.
Although the collection is a permanent exhibit at the MoA, the structure of each gallery is fluid. As the museum returns loaned works, accommodates new exhibits and acquires new art from donors to expand the collection, the galleries will reflect those changes.
“The narrative and the value of the collection in terms of education and culture is richer,” Stetson said. “That’s really what we’re here for. You can study it, learn about the form and the detail and the makers in a way that you never could otherwise.”
Much of the work on display was made or inspired by University faculty and graduates.
The MoA worked with five curators for the unveiling of the collection. Each curator is a seasoned professional and expert in his or her field.
William Keyse Rudolph, Curator of American Art and Chief Curator at the San Antonio Museum of Art, curated the landscape and portraiture galleries. The art depicting the natural landscape includes pieces that influenced the style and work of Louisiana painters.
Rudolph said the paintings show man’s place in the natural world, the vision of Manifest Destiny and environmental conservation.
“The pictures you see are the pictures that spawned historic preservation,” Rudolph said. “Our natural world was saved in part through paintings.”
Each piece in the portraiture gallery is connected, and guests can see across the room how each international movement and style inspired artists who then pioneered their own movements through art.
“It shows how even if you’re a frustrated artist you can still change the world,” Rudolph said, referring to the story and portrait of Samuel Morse, who began as a painter and eventually patented Morse code.
Stetson said the exhibit offers guests a space to talk about the art. He said the questions and comments brought to the artwork will inform what the viewers are seeing and how they see it.
“A museum should be a space for freedom of speech and expression, also right of assembly,” he said. “You can get together and talk about anything. This is a space where those kind of dialogues can happen, for classes, for visitors, for tour groups, for friends.”
Stetson encourages museum visitors to experience the collection in multiple visits, rather than seeing the entire exhibit in one sitting.
“Every visit can be different,” he said. “You spend a little bit more time with work and over time, the kind of depth of knowledge or experience with it changes.”
The unveiling of the permanent collection is for museum members only on March 4 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. The grand opening celebration is March 5 and 6, and will be free to the general public.

Gallery • 15 Photos

Greta Jines

The LSU Museum of Art will present "Art in Louisiana: Views into the Collection” Friday, March 4, 2016, with an opening ceremony for the museum's members only, where those in attendance will see everything from portraits to pottery. On Saturday, March 5 and Sunday, March 6, 2016, the collection will be open to the public for free.