Jean-Jacques Audubon (1785-1851)
The famous ornithologist and naturalist painter Audubon was born in Santo Domingo in 1785 to a wealthy planter and a maid. After the premature death of his mother, his father remarried and returned to Brittany. His talent for drawing became apparent very early on. Not very much in tune with academism, he left for America to take care of his father's land. This nature lover spent his time painting. Soon ruined, he became a taxidermist in Cincinnati where he studied anatomy, zoology, and above all, met the ornithologist Alexander Wilson. In 1821, he opened his first studio where he gave painting lessons and met Elizabeth Pirrie, who offered him to become her daughter's tutor at Oakley Plantation, now theAudubon State Historic Site. For several months he painted the surrounding countryside. After that he moved to St. Francisville with his wife and children. While his wife supported the family, he devoted his energies to painting the local planters. Having somehow managed to save some money, his wife Lucy pushed him to go to Europe. There, he met the painter Cuvier Redouté, a painter specialized in flowers who was already well known. In April 1829, Jean-Jacques Audubon returned to the United States where he finally found recognition. Struck by blindness in 1846, he died in 1851
The work he left us is immense, in particular his formidable bestiary. Let's mention Les Oiseaux d'Amérique, a masterpiece of 435 plates, Quadrupèdes d'Amérique du Nord, of 500 plates, and Biographie ornithologique, other masterpieces including 1,055 drawings with their descriptive notes. His approach made him a precursor in the protection of the environment and the animal kingdom.
George David Coulon (1822-1904)
Born in France, he moved with his family to New Orleans. From childhood, he drew with original materials such as indigo, mixtures of herbs and berries. A teacher, painter and restorer, Coulon is known for his landscapes, still lifes and allegorical portraits, including the Spirit of Louisiana, painted in 1884. Nourished by French neoclassical influence, he introduced various architectural elements in the background of his portraits. He enthusiastically welcomed the arrival of photography, which improved his technique as a portraitist, allowing him to capture even the smallest details of his models' clothing. He married Marie-Paoline Casbergue, a New Orleans-born artist who distinguished herself in the depiction of birds and still lifes. Their two children, Elizabeth Emma and George Joseph Amede also had careers in art.
Edgar Degas, an impressionist in New Orleans
Born in Paris in 1834, Degas was the son of a Parisian banker and a Creole mother from New Orleans. Although he spent most of his life in Paris, he spent a year in New Orleans with his uncle (his mother was a planter's daughter) from 1872 to 1873, when the war with Prussia broke out. He was the only impressionist to visit the emblematic city of Louisiana. Although his mother Celestine died when he was only 13 years old, Degas retained ties to New Orleans because his two brothers lived there. During his stay, he painted a portrait of his sister-in-law, Estelle, for whom he felt a certain fascination. He also highlights the cotton market on Carondelet Street. During this year he lived at 2306 Esplanade Avenue, where it is now possible to visit the Degas House. His Portrait of Mme Rene De Gas, is in the permanent collection of the New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA).
Clementine Hunter (1886 or 1887-1988)
The first black woman to be honored through an exhibition at NOMA, Clementine Hunter is considered a major artist in the history of Louisiana art. Born on Hidden Hill Plantation in Cloutierville, this descendant of slaves began working at the age of 15 at Melrose Plantation, owned by François Mignon, a librarian. It was he who gave Clementine the idea of painting, which she did wonderfully, producing more than 5,000 paintings. Her most famous paintings, in a naive style, are formidable testimonies of daily life on the plantations, religious scenes and leisure activities in the famous Louisiana honky tonks. Some of his works can be seen at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art. His style influenced many Louisiana painters, including the famous Alvin Batiste.
Primitive art
Born in 1962 in Donaldsonville, Alvin Batiste has been painting since the age of 3. Self-taught, he has become through thousands of works a Louisiana symbol of rural art called "primitive". He depicts joyful, but also spiritual and sometimes dramatic scenes of life in the Mississippi Delta of yesteryear, inspired in part by stories told by his mother and grandmother about life on the plantations or in the fields: work, harvest festivals, carnivals, births, funerals, voodoo ceremonies and gospel songs. Children and Big Mamas, omnipresent in his work, evoke the African tradition of storytelling, which he translates into images. Alvin is also a witness of his time: a black Louisiana community plagued by delinquency and drugs, portraits of modern-day Louisianans, and custom wedding ceremonies. Alvin paints on all types of media: canvas, wood, glass, doors, pottery. Admired in Louisiana, his works also travel the world.
Primitive art is expressed in sculpture, through the art of Clyde Connell (1901-1998). A sculptor born in the Shreveport area, she is representative of movements such as abstract expressionism and minimalism. Clyde Connell's work is also informed by black culture, religion and primitive art. Her materials bring her closer to Louisiana nature and Southern identity.
Black culture is at the heart of the Ashé Cultural Arts Center's program in New Orleans. Events and exhibitions honor African contributions to regional culture.The legacy of George Rodrigue
George Rodrigue (1944-2013), born in New Iberia, has magnificently depicted the folk culture of Cajun country in his 300 paintings. a "naive surrealist" in his own words, in 1984 he painted a Blue Dog, the first of a long series representative of his contemporary work and a ubiquitous commercial phenomenon in New Orleans. The state commissioned a series of paintings, including portraits of Ronald Reagan, George Bush (Sr.) and Michael Gorbachev. In 1989, he opened his first gallery in the French Quarter, the Rodrigue Studio, followed by another grand opening in Carmel, California, in 1991. Whoopi Goldberg became interested in him in 1992, through a documentary she directed entitled Rodrigue: A Man and his Dog. Very involved in the rebuilding of his post-Katrina city, George Rodrigue succumbed to lung cancer in December 2013. A large audience gathered for his funeral at St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans
Another renowned portraitist, his contemporary Garland Robinette was born in 1943 at Boutte. He has worked in a variety of fields: as a host-journalist for a radio show on WWL AM, The Think Tank; as an anchor and reporter for a local TV station. In 2005, he gained national attention in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina by conducting an interview with Mayor Ray Nagin when Nagin challenged the federal government to keep their promise. His career as an artist took off during his years in broadcasting, as he nervously scribbled in the margins of his scripts. His first commission was for a portrait of Pope John Paul II, which he did to commemorate his 1987 visit. His portraits are well known
Contemporary trends
Exhibition-goers will have several great venues to choose from, such as the Shaw Center for the Arts, located in downtown Baton Rouge. This cultural complex is built around the LSU Museum of Art 's collection of more than 6,500 contemporary and ancient art objects. Also worth a visit is the Baton Rouge Gallery - Center for Contemporary Art, which has been championing living art with new discoveries and well-known artists for nearly 60 years
In NOLA, a visit to the New Orleans Museum of Art is completed by the hundred or so creations of the Sculpture Garden. Since 1911, NOMA has covered all mediums, from pre-Columbian art to photography. Here you can discover George Dureau (1930-2014), the photographer of the male body, originally from New Orleans. His tender look at black men, often handicapped, conveys an eroticism on the skin
Art gallery open house
A special time when locals get together for a few cultural and social hours. Some Louisiana cities have one day or evening a month when the streets become pedestrianized and the doors of art galleries are wide open to let in art lovers or just the curious. It is common for galleries to offer a small drink to attract the crowd. In New Orleans, galleries are open every first Saturday of the month in the Arts District for the First Saturday event. Another event in the area is White Linen Night in August on Julia Street. For a taste of Baton Rouge, head to Mid-City, the beating heart of the capital. Government Street is lined with trendy art galleries, conceptual eateries and vintage stores.
Street side
Louisiana willingly lends its walls to artists. We can find the greatest artivists (Banksy or Az), public and private initiatives like the anti-Trump mural made by Cashy-D on a facade lent by a resident, Neal Morris. This earned him a complaint ... to which he reacted by founding the NOLA Mural Project, with the aim of promoting street art. Since then, a multitude of paintings embellish the exteriors of New Orleans or Baton Rouge. Even more surprising, urban art reigns in Shreveport, the city of casinos. Mural frescoes, sculptures, tags, nuggets of all sizes constitute a real open-air museum. Throughout Louisiana, art celebrates human rights, music, and a vibrant visual heritage.
