Local artist Carl. E. Moore is setting the stage for Memphis Brooks Museum of Art’s 2025 move to Downtown Memphis with a commissioned piece dedicated to local hero Tom Lee.

“Memphis on the Mississippi: Ode to Tom Lee” is a bold acrylic on canvas painting depicting four African American individuals boating on the river. The subjects are dressed in different pastel-colored clothing looking in different directions, with an underdeveloped Memphis skyline in the background. 

A gilded boat representing Lee’s motorboat “Zev” bobs in the center of the painting.

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Tom Lee was an African American river worker living in Memphis who saved the lives of 32 people on the steamer M.E. Norman, which overturned near the banks of the Mississippi River on May 8, 1925.

Lee made repeated trips from the site of the capsized boat to shore while manning his 28-foot motorboat despite never learning how to swim himself. 

He was lauded as both a local and national hero for his efforts and Tom Lee Park was subsequently named after him. Two monuments dedicated to Lee also sit in the park today.

Moore noted the evolution of Civil Rights, along with the transformation of Tom Lee Park itself, is reflective of the history behind Lee’s story.

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“After moving to Memphis almost 40 years ago, I’ve seen Tom Lee Park evolve from a grassy shore to a dedicated, accessible public park acknowledging Lee’s heroism,” Moore said. “I want the viewer to connect with the characters in the painting. I want the viewer to know the history of Tom Lee.”

French artist Georges Seurat’s “A Sunday on La Grande Jatte” inspired Moore’s painting. One of Seurat’s most famous works, the 1880s pointillism painting depicts individuals from various social classes taking leisure on an island by the Seine River in France.

Describing his painting as a tribute to Tom Lee, Moore says the work represents both the city’s and Lee’s historical significance regarding the Civil Rights Movement and its relevance to Memphis culture.

“I think the conversation about Memphis, the river and the Black community itself can be relative to Black history and the Civil Rights movement,” Moore said. “There is always an indirect connection when you’re talking about a place where people live, work, travel, and how Black Memphians see themselves as being part of that post-Civil Rights History.

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“The characters in the painting are part of that post-Civil Rights discussion.”

The Brooks’ chief curator Rosamund Garrett says the work is representative of the past, present and future of Memphis history and is open to interpretation.

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“The Mississippi is a river that is timeless, and I think that Carl’s work really encapsulates that,” Garrett said. “There’s only one more signifier of time which if you look on the figure in the rowing boat on the left, he has an iPhone just poking out of his pocket. But aside from that, there’s very, very few things that would really anchor this work in time.”

Garrett noted the painting exemplifies Memphis has far more history and relevance than its mere reputation.

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“We really wanted to show Memphis at leisure because often, there’s a lot of focus on Memphis pain and suffering for legitimate reasons,” Garrett said. “We need to address those concerns of course, but there is this perspective from outside Memphis that perhaps that’s all we are. But it’s not, and I think Carl did a beautiful job showing that.”