A benefit auction has been set to raise funds for the long term care of New Orleans artist George Dureau, 82, who is suffering from Alzheimer's disease. Dureau is shown in a 2011 file photograph. (The Times-Picayune NOLA.com archive)
Friends of New Orleans artist George Dureau have organized a benefit auction to help defray costs of nursing and medical care for the 82-year-old French Quarter icon. Dureau, who suffers from Alzheimer’s disease, is confined to a nursing home.
Dureau’s personal effects will go on the block at Crescent City Auction Gallery, 1330 St. Charles Ave. The July 13 auction begins at 1 p.m. and features both the studio props that appeared in Dureau’s acclaimed photographs, and a host of domestic objects. Highlights include a 19th century walnut bed; a pair of modernist chairs by Bertoia, and a cypress refectory table that Dureau, a grand entertainer, once used for dinner parties.
Dureau is represented by Arthur Roger Gallery, 434 Julia St, where an exhibition of his photographs, drawings and paintings continues through July 13. The exhibit gathers work from the 1960s through the 1990s.
Dureau won national notice for his evocative photographic portraits, which often featured black men, dwarfs, and handicapped individuals. The New Orleans native worked in many media, however. He created the popular Professor Longhair poster for the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. His sculptural gates at the New Orleans Museum of Art (a collaboration with Ersy Schwartz) and a decorative frieze on the pediment of Harrah’s Casino are some of the city’s most prominent public art works. His paintings and drawings are in many collections, including those of the Ogden Museum of Southern Art and the New Orleans Museum of Art.
For details about the benefit auction call Crescent City Auction Gallery at 504.529.5057.