Friday, October 8 | 6 pm lecture | Free; tickets required | The Farrell Auditorium

Welcome back guest lecturer Bradley Bailey, associate professor and director of the art history program at Saint Louis University, for a closer look at a fascinating portrait in the Museum’s collection attributed to celebrated Dada and Surrealist photographer Man Ray.

The subject, St. Louis socialite and heiress Dorothy Jean “DoJean” Sayman—later known as Lady Smithers—lived a life as dramatic as any work of art. From her ties to the Sayman Soap fortune to her marriage to British diplomat and spy Sir Peter Smithers, rumored to have inspired the character of James Bond, her story unfolds at the intersection of glamour, intrigue, and modernism.

Join Bailey as he unpacks the mysteries surrounding this enigmatic portrait, from questions of attribution to the complexities of Man Ray’s photographic practice. Along the way, discover how one remarkable sitter—and one elusive image—open a window onto the worlds of wealth, identity, and artistic authorship.