The rich and varied visual art of the American South is shockingly understudied. Hence the Frist exhibition “Southern/Modern,” the country’s first comprehensive survey of early–20th–century Southern paintings and drawings. Featuring artists native to the South, such as Aaron Douglas and Carroll Cloar, and Northerners who taught at Black Mountain College (Josef Albers, Elaine de Kooning) or whose art is rooted in their remembered experiences of the South, the exhibition embodies a history of dynamic creativity while also addressing the obvious impact of class and race on both Southern society and its artistic representations. —Lucy Horowitz