By Christopher Harrity via The Advocate

The artist and photographer’s work ranged from the erotic to the unsettling. He was a mentor of Mapplethorpe and a long-time contributor to Drummer magazine.

Long-time icon of the creative world of New Orleans, George Dureau died Monday (April 7) morning at the Walden Healthcare Center in Kenner according to NOLA.com. He was 84.

With a cult-like following, George Dureau’s photographs are a striking mix of carnal and heroic, unsentimental yet completely intimate and personal. Known as a painter who began making photographs as an extension of his paintings, Dureau’s photographs are a significant contribution to art history, yet somehow, even today, are largely unknown. Dureau traveled in both the high art world and allowed his work to be displayed in the legendary leather/SM magazine Drummer.

George Dureau was born on December 28, 1930. He attended Louisiana State University, where he received a B.A. in fine arts in 1952. After serving in the United States Army, he briefly attended Tulane University, where he studied architecture.

For an in-depth interview with Dureau, we recommend Jack Fritscher’s Mapplethorpe: Assault With a Deadly Camera. On his site you can download a pdf of the interview with Dureau talking about his relationship with Mapplethorpe.

See more of Dureau’s work here in his Artist Spotlight portfolio.