Juanita McNeely

2026

Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis

Juanita McNeely — “From the Black Space II,” 1977, Oil on linen, 7 panels, overall: 84 × 312 inches, Installation view, For Dear Life: Art, Medicine, and Disability, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, 2024.

DetailsExhibition

Address 3750 Washington Ave
St. Louis, MO

Site Description

Accessibility: The museum is free and open to the public. Free and metered street parking is available. The museum is ADA accessible.

Open Hours: 10 a.m.–5 p.m., Wed–Thurs; 10 a.m.–8 p.m., Fri; 10 a.m.–5 p.m., Sat–Sun

Exhibition Details

Juanita McNeely (1936–2023) was an artist whose career spanned painting, drawing, and ceramics over her lifetime. Born in Ferguson, MO, her visceral, colorful, style framed the body as a place of desire, pain, and resilience. For Counterpublic 2026: Coyote Time, Counterpublic along with the Saint Louis Art Museum and the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis presents McNeely’s first solo presentation in her hometown.

At the Contemporary Art Museum, a focused presentation centers on Triskaidekaptych (1986), a monumental 13-panel painting bringing together human and animal forms in a vivid chromatic palette animated by rapid brushstrokes. At the Saint Louis Art Museum, the exhibition focuses on body paintings, this exhibition explores McNeely’s accomplishments in landscape, portraiture, animal imagery, and still life. It includes paintings, drawings, and ceramics across 60 years from 1959 to 2019.

This exhibition is organized by Raphael Fonseca, Counterpublic 2026 co-curator and curator-at-large at the Denver Art Museum, with assistance from Dean Daderko, Ferring Foundation Chief Curator at the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, and Simon Kelly, Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Saint Louis Art Museum.

Courtesy of James Fuentes Gallery.