George Valentine Dureau Life and Art in New Orleans
Produktdetaljer
Biografisk notat
Howard Philips Smith is a writer, novelist, and photographer, known primarily for his historical works, which focus on expanding the scope of gay history, especially in New Orleans. He is author of Unveiling the Muse: The Lost History of Gay Carnival in New Orleans and A Sojourn in Paradise: Jack Robinson in 1950s New Orleans, both published by University Press of Mississippi. His first novel, which is a work of historical fiction about the gay community in 1980s New Orleans, is The Cult of the Mask: The Strange and Delectable Tale of Life Among the Sybarites. His photography was included in Louisiana Lens: Photographs from The Historic New Orleans Collection by John H. Lawrence."Painter and photographer George Dureau deserves national recognition, as does the Bohemian art world that flourished in New Orleans in the late twentieth century. With Howard Philips Smith's comprehensive study, this will no longer be an underappreciated chapter in the history of contemporary art in America." - E. John Bullard, director emeritus of the New Orleans Museum of Art <br /><br />"Smith’s book offers new insights into the evolution of Dureau’s artistic and photographic vision, including a significant focus on the maturation of Dureau’s career during the 1980s, placing his work within the context of the art and artists of the unique New Orleans art world of that decade. As Smith explains in his introduction, the book ‘reassembles all the disparate pieces of his life into a more focused and nuanced image of George Dureau, the New Orleans native, the gay artist, and most importantly the ultimate sphinx.’ Supported by expansive footnotes and bibliographic references, a thoroughly annotated timeline, extensive interviews (many included in an appendix), and related documentation, Smith’s new publication from University Press of Mississippi should become the primary reference volume on the art and life of George Dureau." - J. Richard Gruber, director emeritus of the Ogden Museum of Southern Art
George Valentine Dureau: Life and Art in New Orleans reassembles the pieces of Dureau’s puzzle-work life. The complexity of his life came together in the studio, where he created some of the most important artworks of the later twentieth century. This lush publication features 100 large-format photographic plates, most of which have never been seen or published and surprisingly some in color. There are more than 200 illustrations and two essays to accompany the plates, along with a special section devoted to the artists and artwork of 1980s New Orleans, featuring hundreds of additional photographs, and several appendices of supplementary materials, such as interview transcripts, a timeline of Dureau’s life and career, a map of important locations, and a section on relevant art publications, invitations, and posters.