The art exhibit “Double Vision: Art from Jesuit University Collections” is now open for presentation in Haggerty Art Museum at Marquette University.
The collection is a creative collaboration with other midwestern Jesuit universities to display works in a variety of styles. Pieces displayed are from collections in the Haggerty Museum of Art, Saint Louis University’s Contemporary Religious Art and the Loyola University Museum of Art.
Lynne Shumow, curator for academic engagement at Haggerty Museum of Art, spearheaded the exhibit, along with Susan Longhenry, director and chief curator of the Haggerty Museum and David Brinker, director of the Museum of Contemporary Religious Art at Saint Louis University.
“The idea was to show work from different Jesuit collections and then we have them in comparison with each other,” Shumow said. “We are using the art to enhance all learning.”
The exhibit is based on the 14 Stations of the Cross, but are represented through individual words. The Stations of the cross is a series of displays on the day Jesus Christ was crucified. Some of the words presented include “strength,” “courage,” “solidarity” and “justice.”
Each word includes a piece from the Haggerty and one piece another school’s collections. They are then put into conversation with one another to create a dialogue with the viewer. “You take this two different images which can be interpreted as having some kind of meaning related to the word” Shumow said.
She then talks about the process and how it all came together. “Rather than making it based on the traditional Stations, we took that idea and made it more open to all types of contemplators and believers,” Shumow said. “We are giving the students tools to do their own interpretation.”
The art is offered in a variety of styles ranging from pop to renaissance and features artists such as Keith Haring from Chicago known for his graffiti art and Luis Gonzalez Palma from Guatemala known for his photography.
To the left of the artwork there is a brief description on the artist along with how it was created and how it is related to the theme of the word.
Shumow said the importance art has had in the Jesuit experience throughout history is essential.
“There is old work and new work in conversation with each other. We have pieces from 1480 that are in conversation with modern or contemporary artists. So it’s working all different materials, and from all different eras and expressing all different sorts of things,” Shumow said.
David Brinker worked with Shumow on the project and has enjoyed the collaboration.
“It has been a delightful experience working with Lynne,” Brinker said. “This is the first that MOCRA , the museum that I direct, have done something like this … and Lynne and the rest of the Haggerty staff have made it super easy.”
Brinker and Shumow came into contact with each other before the pandemic, and wanted to create an exhibit that worked with multiple Jesuit universities.
David said he’s very excited for the exhibit to come to Saint Louis where he will have the opportunity to display pieces that are not usually available at the MOCRA.
“You put all these [paintings] together and it is a great opportunity to bring together all these works for different periods. And the great thing for us is that MOCRA doesn’t usually have the opportunity to show stuff like that,” Brinker said.
When David was asked to create a dialogue for the art in connection with the Stations of the cross, he found himself in a comfortable position.
“I think this is a really great representation of all these Jesuit universities, and that broad vision that is grounded in Catholic and Jesuit tradition, but it has room for a whole lot of different perspectives,” Brinker said.
Further into the booklet there are reflections written by professors from Marquette and other universities with the same Jesuit values, they reflect on the art and how it relates to the Station.
“Here you see all these onlooks in human history and the different ways they can almost be used as icons to enter into the mystery of the human concept,” Ryan Duns, a theology professor at Marquette, said.
Duns is hoping that students take time to look through the exhibit and reflect on what is presented.
“I would like students to walk through and experience their imaginations be enlivened and enlarged,” Duns said.
Duns reflected and wrote on the Station ‘DISCERNMENT’ where a particular piece resonated with him the most.
“Donald Grant: ‘Open Flames’ … I return to this one over and over again, because this is the position that many of us find ourselves in nowadays” Duns said.
Duns talks about the different ways people could perceive the same art depending on the day. “Come and spend some time. You are never going to the same piece of art twice because you are going to be different each time,” Duns said.
Further into the booklet Father Tom Lucas then elaborates on the Double Visions exhibit. Father Lucas is world renowned for his work in Jesuit art history and is well known as a liturgical designer and artist.
As a graduate student, Lucas designed and directed the restoration of the sixteenth century rooms of St. Ignatius in Rome and curated an exhibit on Jesuit architecture at the Vatican Library.
Lucas also worked for institutions such as the U.S. Jesuit Conference, San Francisco University, Seattle University and is now working as a pastor at St. Ignatius Loyola Parish in Sacramento, California, where he continues his art and teaching.
The exhibit will be at Marquette for the fall semester and then will be traveling to Saint Louis University in the spring semester.
This story was written by Connor Baldwin. He can be reached at [email protected]
