It was last spring that a young student at The Dufrocq School, a Louisiana A+ School in Baton Rouge, Louisiana asked me the most basic of questions: “What did he look like?” Thrown off, I could only think Where’s my phone? (in my purse) followed quickly by Where’s my purse? (on the other side of theContinue reading “What did he look like? …A LAA+ Tour”
Category Archives: PORTRAITS
Gus Weill and George Rodrigue (a couple of local boys)
Why do you do what you do? Ah sir if we only knew. But the winds call And the waves toss And we follow And are lost. Ah sir if we only knew.* -Gus Weill, 1981 (pictured, A Couple of Local Boys, 1981, oil on canvas by George Rodrigue, 48×36 inches; collection theContinue reading “Gus Weill and George Rodrigue (a couple of local boys)”
Walker Percy (The Impossible Dream)
“Waking wide-eyed dreams come as fitfully as swampfire.”* Years ago artist George Rodrigue owned a camp in Butte la Rose, Louisiana on the Atchafalaya Basin. He purchased it as a small, cabin-like structure on stilts and quickly built on bedrooms, extending a raised walkway to the river and over the swamp. -click photo to enlarge-Continue reading “Walker Percy (The Impossible Dream)”
King Marion
For sixty-five years, the Krewe of Louisianians, comprised of the seven congressional districts of the State of Louisiana, has hosted a private Mardi Gras for 5,000 people in Washington, D.C. The three-day celebration includes the best examples of Louisiana’s food and music, while honoring its young women as princesses and festival queens. The Mardi GrasContinue reading “King Marion”
Walker Percy, Sylvester Stallone and the Blue Dog
Update, 2/1/13- Due to the popularity of this exhibition, it is now extended through August 31, 2013. During his forty-five year career, George Rodrigue has painted more than one hundred portraits, everything from his family to U.S. Presidents. One series in particular, however, stands out as a select group of award-winning authors and scholars, paintedContinue reading “Walker Percy, Sylvester Stallone and the Blue Dog”
Louisiana Legends
Between 1990 and 1993 artist George Rodrigue painted sixteen portraits on three canvases of Living Legends for Louisiana Public Broadcasting. The 1990 honorees and Rodrigue’s tribute painting launched an LPB tradition continuing today. All proceeds from posters of the three paintings benefited LPB’s television programming. “At the gala,” recalls Rodrigue, “each nominee gave a shortContinue reading “Louisiana Legends”
Clifton Chenier and a Cajun Explosion
In 1985 George Rodrigue painted the great musician Clifton Chenier (1925-1987). At the time, Chenier was world-famous, crowned a Grammy Award winner in 1983 and summoned everywhere from San Francisco to Switzerland to share his unique Louisiana sound. Rodrigue’s timing in painting the portrait honors Chenier not only for his music, but also for hisContinue reading “Clifton Chenier and a Cajun Explosion”
Hank Williams or Moon Mullican: A Blogging Dilemma
“I love how Louisiana artists yell out food names when they run out of lyrics.” -Elizabeth McClanahan, Senior at Loyola University, majoring in Music Industry Studies I intended this Jazz Fest post for weeks, focused on Hank Williams. George Rodrigue and I trekked through rural Alabama last month, the Hank Williams Trail, with stops inContinue reading “Hank Williams or Moon Mullican: A Blogging Dilemma”
Iry LeJeune, Cajun Accordion Player
Spring is festival season in Louisiana, and this history, particularly regarding Cajun music, exists visually in the musicians’ portraits painted by George Rodrigue. Since the early 1970s he painted dozens of music-related scenes, Southern music legends including everyone from Elvis Presley to Mahalia Jackson. (See the post “Musicians: A Series of Paintings”) However, the CajunContinue reading “Iry LeJeune, Cajun Accordion Player”
The Family Portrait
Although George Rodrigue admitted to himself only recently that he is an effective portrait artist, he has painted both real and imaginary figures for forty years, accepting commissions for family portraits since the early 1970s. For the family portrait he feels pressured to please everyone from Great Aunt Marie to Baby Hebert with regards toContinue reading “The Family Portrait”
Paintings for the Flora Levy Lecture Series at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette
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”
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”