Gallery exhibitions illustrate transformative moments in Missouri and US history. Located on the first floor, the main and topical galleries feature rotating exhibitions, with select works on permanent display. A second-floor corridor gallery features curated materials from SHSMO collections. The galleries are located at the SHSMO Center for Missouri Studies in Columbia.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s two-time Pulitzer-prize winning cartoonist, Daniel Fitzpatrick, chronicled the progress of WWII with powerful and poignant editorial cartoons. The three installments of this yearlong exhibition present visual commentary on the events of the war as they happened. The first installment, The Onset of War, August 1939–November 1941, is on display during the 80th anniversary of the Nazi invasion of Poland that precipitated the beginning of WWII in Europe on Sept. 1, 1939.
Award-winning photographer Oliver Schuchard has made Missouri his home for more than four decades. Over the years, Schuchard has often turned his camera to diverse landscapes in his adopted state and elsewhere. This exhibition, in two installments, displays Schuchard’s dedication to the aesthetics and craft of black and white landscape photography over the course of his distinguished career.
This yearlong exhibition in three installments showcases examples of Thomas Hart Benton’s original watercolors and drawings for the Limited Editions Club publications of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and Life on the Mississippi. As a Missourian, Benton brought his own understanding of the landscape and people of the state to his illustrations, creating perceptive images that complement Twain’s prose.
The State Historical Society of Missouri holds one of the few complete collections of the lithographs Thomas Hart Benton published in editions during his lifetime. Over 90 master prints dating from 1929 to 1974 reflect the many changes that took place in Benton’s attitudes and artwork over the course of his life. Many of these lithographs are variations on famed Benton paintings, and the diverse imagery attests to the complexity of the artist’s aesthetic, political and social ideas.
