In 1993 George Rodrigue and I went to Paris. We recently were dating, and I was relishing this artist-at-my-fingertips. Today I tend to take that access for granted, and I have to remind myself that not everyone has this sort of expertise along while visiting a museum or watching Frida or just sitting at homeContinue reading “Rodrigue on Monet”
Monthly Archives:
Two Publishing Stories: The Cajuns and Blue Dog
The Cajuns of George Rodrigue By 1975 George Rodrigue was painting forty canvases a year, all scenes of Cajun folk-life stemming from his first painting with people, Aioli Dinner (1971), and incorporating the distinctive oak trees from his landscapes as well. Although he had a gallery in Lafayette, Louisiana, he was selling most of hisContinue reading “Two Publishing Stories: The Cajuns and Blue Dog”
The Creative Competition in Two Parts
Part I I grew up in an artistic household in Fort Walton Beach, Florida. My parents, although originally from New Orleans, settled there when my dad was stationed at Eglin Air Force Base. In the first ten years of their marriage, they lived and traveled all over Europe and Asia with the military, and byContinue reading “The Creative Competition in Two Parts”
Blue Dog: In the Beginning, 1984-1989
In 1980 a Baton Rouge investment group approached George Rodrigue for help in creating a lasting Louisiana memento, a book of Louisiana ghost stories to be sold at the 1984 World’s Fair in New Orleans. Author Chris Segura embellished forty rather gruesome tales, and Rodrigue researched regional myths and legends for appropriate imagery, resulting inContinue reading “Blue Dog: In the Beginning, 1984-1989”
The Aioli Dinner and a Cajun Artist
The first time I saw the original Aioli Dinner, I was struck by its monochromaticity. It is a green painting through and through. You don’t notice it in a photograph and certainly not in a print (as explained below), but the painting itself exudes the swamp, and one almost feels the mugginess, smells the sweat,Continue reading “The Aioli Dinner and a Cajun Artist”
Early Oak Trees and a Regrettable Self-Portrait
It was on the long drives back from The Art Center College of Design in California that George Rodrigue developed his style. He’d been thinking about it for some time – about how different South Louisiana is from other places, as well as the eighteen hundred miles of cities and countryside and Americans he passedContinue reading “Early Oak Trees and a Regrettable Self-Portrait”
My Favorite George Rodrigue Painting
Note: I reworked this post in July 2011. To see my favorite painting and George Rodrigue’s least favorite painting (pictured at the bottom of this post) in person, visit the exhibition “Blue Dogs and Cajuns on the River,” July 23 – September 18, 2011, at the Baton Rouge Museum of Art at the Shaw Center.Continue reading “My Favorite George Rodrigue Painting”
Tombs in the Life and Art of George Rodrigue
It’s Halloween, which makes me think of skeletons and vampires and okay, pumpkins and candy, but those don’t apply here, which makes me think of cemeteries and caskets, which makes me think of George Rodrigue’s unusual to my mind and on-going interest in tombs. As I mentioned briefly in my last post, George’s father wasContinue reading “Tombs in the Life and Art of George Rodrigue”
How Baby George Became an Artist
George Rodrigue grew up an only child in New Iberia, Louisiana, a small town in the heart of Cajun country. His father, also named George Rodrigue, was a bricklayer by trade, but he dabbled in other businesses as well. As the youngest of thirteen children, Big George (as he was known around town) took onContinue reading “How Baby George Became an Artist”
Now and Then There’s a Fool Such as I (in Memphis)
We’ve spent the past three days in Memphis, extended longer than our usual book tour duty because we visited at length with patients and staff at Le Bonheur Hospital. We took a hard hat tour of their new facility, in addition to what I can only describe as an inspirational (and heartbreaking) tour of theirContinue reading “Now and Then There’s a Fool Such as I (in Memphis)”