Beginning in 1980 George Rodrigue painted ten portraits, one each year, honoring guest lecturers at what was then called the University of Southwest Louisiana (now the University of Louisiana at Lafayette). The speaker series was conceived by Professor Maurice DuQuesnay and funded by Flora Levy, a Lafayette heiress and philanthropist who left her fortune toContinue reading “Paintings for the Flora Levy Lecture Series at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette”
Category Archives: PORTRAITS
The Jazz Fest Poster: Part 2
With this post, George and I remember Mrs. Frances Fernandez, long-time President and Board member of the New Orleans Jazz Club, who dedicated her life to the appreciation of New Orleans’s jazz musicians. We also remember Bill Hemmerling, a beloved local artist who painted the 2005 poster for the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival.Continue reading “The Jazz Fest Poster: Part 2”
The Jazz Fest Poster: Part 1
In 1994 when first approached by ProCreations, the poster company for the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, George Rodrigue hesitated. “It has to be my rules,” he said: “I want to paint Louis Armstrong, and I want to paint him without the Blue Dog.” Up until this time Jazz Fest posters included only musiciansContinue reading “The Jazz Fest Poster: Part 1”
Musicians: A Series of Paintings
It’s spring in Louisiana, and that means seventy-degree weather, festivals, and live music. This weekend New Orleans hosts the French Quarter Festival, an annual free music festival throughout the oldest part of the city, and popular with both tourists and locals. Through the windows of our third floor bedroom in the Faubourg Marigny, we listenedContinue reading “Musicians: A Series of Paintings”
Clinton, Bush, and Obama: Portraits (or not)
In 1994 some connected friends with the Democratic Party invited George Rodrigue to meet President Bill Clinton. George invited me along and, truth be told, I was more excited about meeting Hillary. My mom worked at a printing company at the time, and she and her friend Bronwen Ross created personalized note cards for theContinue reading “Clinton, Bush, and Obama: Portraits (or not)”
Portraits: The Kingfish and Uncle Earl
For years George tried to convince me that he is not a portrait painter. He explained that others paint with far more skill in interpreting likenesses, and that he used his models as just that, models. If he paints Jolie Blonde, in other words, it’s not about the person posing, but rather about the legend.Continue reading “Portraits: The Kingfish and Uncle Earl”
Eisenhower and Higgins: A New Historical Painting
How do I explain a painting rooted in war? How does someone like me write about it in such a way that doesn’t offend the anti-war Americans (a position I respect immensely), or the veterans (a position I also respect immensely), but rather expresses pride for our country and compassion for our fellow human beings?Continue reading “Eisenhower and Higgins: A New Historical Painting”