Current Exhibitions
Persuasive Politics: Presidential Campaign Memorabilia
Aug. 30, 2024-Dec. 22, 2024
Displayed every four years, "Persuasive Politics" features SLUMA's collection of presidential campaign memorabilia. Included are objects such as a George Washington coat button, an "I Like Ike" cigarette pack, and a Votomatic voting machine (with butterfly ballots). This exhibition's 700 campaign items range from the historic and stoic to the contemporary and whimsical, providing a comprehensive view of campaign memorabilia across the political history of the United States.
Long-term Exhibitions
Einar Hákonarson: The Auschwitz Etchings
Over the course of a 40-year career, Einar Hákonarson (b. 1945) has become one of Iceland’s most distinguished artists, with 30 exhibitions in multiple countries. He was educated at the Iceland Academy of the Arts (Iceland’s national art school) and the Valand School of Fine Arts of the University of Gothenburg in Sweden. Primarily a painter, he has also won numerous awards for his work in printmaking, and he reignited interest in the medium of printmaking in Iceland. In 1965, as a student at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, he made a life-changing trip to Auschwitz. Reflecting on that experience, the artist said, “this visit [to Auschwitz] influenced me tremendously. I simply was not the same as before.”
While a large portion of his work since the Auschwitz visit has dealt with human suffering, Hákonarson made a series of six etchings between 1965 and 1967 that specifically referenced his reflections on Auschwitz. He dedicated the six etchings to the victims of the Holocaust as well as to all victims of hatred, bigotry and injustice. Although intimate in scale, the etchings explore the spirit of the human person to persevere and triumph even in the midst of atrocities on such an epic scale. The etchings remain witnesses to humanity’s dark side, but they are also expressions of hope that in the face of such evil, the vigilant human spirit can still triumph and prevail.
We invite you to spend time with these works, to read the artist’s own reflections on the themes in each of the prints, and to see that, in light of the many contemporary global trouble spots, the message of the Auschwitz Etchings is timelier than ever.
Cartier: A Visionary Journey
In 1847, Louis-François Cartier founded the luxury jewelry and watch brand Cartier. Through his visionary entrepreneurship and the strategic and creative acumen of his sons and grandsons, Cartier rose to become the pinnacle of the international jewelry industry. Louis-François' grandson Pierre married Ella Rumsey, daughter of American tycoon Moses Lee Rumsey Jr. This strategic marital alliance facilitated Cartier's expansion into the American market.
This exhibition provides a glimpse into the lives of the Cartier and Rumsey families through photographs, letters, and documents gifted to Saint Louis University by the family of Marion Rumsey Cartier, daughter of Pierre and Ella, in 1997.