Exhibition Dates: June 1 – July 13, 2013
Opening Reception: Saturday, June 1 from 6–8 pm
Gallery Location: 434 Julia Street, New Orleans, LA 70130
Hours: Tuesday–Saturday, 10 am–5 pm
Contact Info: 504.522.1999; www.arthurrogergallery.com
The Arthur Roger Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition of paintings, drawings and photographs by George Dureau. The exhibition will be on view at Arthur Roger@434, located at 434 Julia Street, from June 1 – July 13, 2013. The gallery will host an opening reception, Saturday, June 1 from 6–8 pm.
Self Portrait with Camera, 1979, Charcoal on canvas, 24 x 19 3/4 inches
George Dureau, a native New Orleanian, has been exhibiting paintings and charcoal drawings since the 1960s. In a style self-described as “Classical Romantic”, he has always demonstrated a singular ability to render the beauty of the human figure in intricate compositions often inspired by allegorical scenes from great paintings and sculpture in Western art. Dureau has stated that, “after drawing and composing with much control and clear intention” he would then proceed “to paint with passion and often abandon.”
Beyond New Orleans, Dureau’s reputation as a photographer is more prominent however. In the 1970s, he began photographing his models – most male, often nude, some with physical disabilities. In 2012, he received critical acclaim in the New York Times following the first New York exhibition of his photography. Critic Roberta Smith described the photographs as “wonderfully immediate and alive,” sharing “an emotional realism and a sense of intimacy between artist and sitter of the kind that also enriches the portrait paintings of Alice Neel.” On the frequent comparison to photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, who was largely influenced by Dureau, she explains that, “Mr. Dureau’s subjects have an individuality, vulnerability and intensely personal gravity that Mapplethorpe’s more objectified models often lack.” Literary scholar Claude J. Summers defined it as “foremost a matter of empathy.”
The works in this exhibition of paintings, drawings and photographs date from the 1960s through the 1990s.
George Valentine Dureau was born in 1930. He received a B.A. in Fine Arts from Louisiana State University in 1952 and briefly attended Tulane University where he studied architecture. In 1990, as part of the Louisiana Percent for Art Program, he was commissioned to paint The Parade Paused for Gallier Hall in New Orleans. In 1993, he and artist Ersy Schwartz were commissioned to design and oversee the fabrication and installation of the bronze and steel Gates at North Court at the New Orleans Museum of Art. In 1999, he designed the pediment sculptures for the Harrah’s Casino in New Orleans, as well as created the year’s official New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival poster depicting Professor Longhair. In October 2011, the Ogden Museum of Southern Art in New Orleans presented Dureau its highest honor, the Opus Award, in recognition of his contributions to the art and culture of New Orleans and the larger South. His art is included in numerous museum collections, including Le Musée de la Photographie in Paris, the New Orleans Museum of Art, the Ogden Museum of Southern Art and the Morris Museum of Art in Augusta, Georgia.