What became of Dr. Smith? A hidden Mississippi history – Mississippi’s Best Community Newspaper

Elevated in Natchez, Noah Saterstrom is commonly identified as a person of the important Southern artists lively right now. Educated in art at the University of Mississippi and Scotland’s renowned Glasgow University of Art, Noah now resides and paints in Nashville.

In the Mississippi Museum of Art’s 2018 Mississippi Bicentennial Exhibit, “Picturing Mississippi, 1817-2017, Land of A good deal, Agony, and Assure,” Noah’s significant painting, “Road to Shubuta” (2016) was highlighted amid the the moment-in-a-life span assembly of defining art of the record of Mississippi. The portray now is element of the Museum’s long lasting collection. Noah’s operate is prolific, obtainable at several notable galleries, and even graces the include of Ann Patchett’s 2019 novel, “The Dutch Residence.”

In Oct of this year, the Museum will open a solo display of a monumental, practically monumental, new do the job by Noah, “What Became of Dr. Smith?”. This painting is mural-sized, 120 ft by 6 feet, and consists of 160 panels, some of which are set in Natchez.

What is the topic of such a massive new do the job by this major artist that the Mississippi Museum of Artwork deems so important as to advantage a solo demonstrate in the Drop? The painting centers all-around the lifetime-trajectory of Noah’s good grandfather, Dr. David Lawson Smith, in early and mid-20th century Mississippi. The portray is the final result of Noah’s investigation into the disappearance of his fantastic grandfather from family history and point out. Acquiring discovered Dr. Smith in the historic file, Noah in this get the job done traces Dr. Smith as a result of his existence, moments, and sites in the State. This is a painting that, intriguingly and revealingly, depicts features of Mississippi record through a pictorial biography of a one and singular human being.

Who improved to convey to the Natchez Historical Society’s common month-to-month conference, this Tuesday, March 28, a preview and rationalization of the clearly show than the curator of it, Dr. Megan Hines? Megan is a submit-doctoral fellow in artwork heritage at the Museum and Millsaps School, and has been functioning on the development of the present since last calendar year. This is only Megan’s 2nd pay a visit to to Noah’s dwelling town, and she is enthused to appear below and give us an advance glance at the display. How fitting for Natchez that it really should be so!

The assembly will be at the Historic Natchez Foundation, 108 S. Commerce St., with a social starting off at 5:30 p.m. and the presentation at 6:00. All are invited, associates and non-users, alike. A lively address for the eyes and mind is promised, as effectively as an in depth exposure to a single of Natchez’s inventive contributors to the broader earth.

ALAN WOLF is a director of the Natchez Historic Modern society and its programming chair.