Jeremy K. Simien is a well-known connoisseur of antique Louisiana paintings, furniture and fine craft. In particular, the 40-year-old Baton Rouge art collector seeks out items that call attention to slavery and race relations in colonial and pre-Civil War society. It can be a splintery area of specialization, since not everyone cares to be reminded of past societal ills.
Years back, Simien said, he asked a museum director why there was so little historical evidence of people of color in the institution’s collection. The director, whom Simien declined to name, said that such artifacts just didn’t exist or couldn’t be found anyway. With that, Simien embarked on a sometimes quixotic quest.
In time, he discovered that evidence of antebellum slavery and the historical contributions of non-Europeans certainly exists, though often it’s been swept under the rug. Simien believes it’s imperative to find such artworks and objects and suss out their meanings. And it’s especially important that a person of color, like himself, do so.
Bringing back Bélizaire
In 2021, Simien became an overnight star of the national antique art scene, when he tracked down and purchased a mysterious 1837 group portrait, possibly painted by master Jacques Amans, that was long rumored to include a blotted-out portrait of an enslaved teen…