George Dureau
Mardi Gras, New Orleans
Signed Silkscreen, #142/5000
35″ x 23″ (40″ x 28″ framed)
$600
New Orleans artist George Dureau created this poster for the Mardi Gras season of 1979, and it remains a favorite print combining the city’s favorite festivity with George’s distinctive art. Dureau is of course iconic in New Orleans, so to learn more about him just Google and you will find a flood of information. The print is framed, but there is a crack in the glass; rather than replace it and take the chance of another break during shipping, I have reduced the price to cover the cost of new glass, which you can pick up cheaply at any frame shop (hint: don’t let them upsell you to museum glass; it’s rarely necessary).
Artist George Dureau, New Orleans legend
George Dureau was one of New Orleans’ major 20th-century artists (b. 1930, d. 2014). His drawing style is instantly recognizable, as he was a notable draftsman, but he is just as well known for his photography. His pictures often included dwarves and amputees – not as a sort of freak show, but in order to expand the notion of beauty and “rightness.” His photos and drawings of black men inspired Robert Mapplethorpe, who was a friend. Both worked in a classical, formal tradition, but with a transgressive, contemporary flavor. Dureau is an icon in the history of New Orleans art.
Dureau retrospectives
Ogden Museum of Southern Art
2006, 2011
New Orleans Museum of Art
2009
Here’s a link to more about the artist.
You can read more about the artist here, on the website of Arthur Roger Gallery, his primary dealer.