Robert Gordy

Robert Gordy (1933–1986) was a prominent American painter, printmaker, and draftsman best known as a leading figure in the 20th-century New Orleans art scene.

Early Life and Education

Born in Jefferson Island, Louisiana, in 1933, Gordy began formal artistic instruction at age 15 under painter Weeks Hall. He earned his MFA from Louisiana State University in 1956, studied under Abstract Expressionist Hans Hofmann during the summer of 1953, and pursued further studies at Yale University and Iowa State University. After spending a decade traveling, living, and working across Mexico, Florence, Ibiza, San Francisco, and New York, Gordy permanently settled in New Orleans in 1964.

Artistic Style and Career

Gordy achieved national and international acclaim for his masterly, highly structured compositions defined by:

• Pattern and Rhythm: A sophisticated interplay of bold lines, repeating geometric patterns, and flattened, simplified human figures set against shallow picture planes.

• Style: Though art critics and curators frequently linked his work to Pop Art, Chicago's Hairy Who, or the Pattern and Decoration Movement, Gordy fiercely avoided labels, preferring to describe his work as strictly "outside the mainstream".

• Influences: His work drew heavily from Cubism, Surrealism, Art Deco, African art, and post-impressionists like Paul Cézanne and Henri Matisse.

Throughout the 1970s, his work was showcased in high-profile venues across the U.S. and Europe, including the 1973 Whitney Biennial and PS1 in New York. In 1982, Gordy shifted his focus almost entirely to monotypes—one-of-a-kind prints made by painting directly onto metal printing plates.