New Orleans Mardi Gras Poster, 1980's. Artwork by George Dureau. Signature at lower centre. Artist Proof Tennessee Williams Festival Poster 1970's. Artwork by George Dureau. Signature at lower right. New Orleans Symphony Poster 1990-91. Artwork by George Dureau. Signature at bottom centre.

Vintage Signed Posters Artwork by George Dureau

Series of 3 vintage signed promotional posters with commissioned artwork by George Dureau.

  1. Title  New Orleans Symphony Poster 1990-91
    Artist:   George Dureau (1930-2014)
    Image size:  29 X 40 inches
    Paper size:   32 X 44 inches
    Edition: none
    Signature: yes                                                                                                                                                             Condition: Tape marks on the back, Poster mounted on board size of paper
    Provenance: Private Collection of Don Dureau; Gifted to Don Dureau, by his brother George Dureau
     Asking Price: 600 USD / Shipping is from Dallas, Texas
  2. Title  New Orleans Mardi Gras Poster – Artist Proof, 1980’S

    Artist: George Dureau (1930-2014)

    Image size:   22.5 X 34.5 inches

    Paper size:   24 X 38 inches

    Signature: yes 

    Condition: tape marks of the back, some slight creasing of image portion on center right, Poster mounted on board size of paper

    Provenance: Private Collection of Don Dureau; Gifted to Don Dureau, by his brother George Dureau

    Asking Price:  550 USD / Shipping is from Dallas, Texas

     

    (More Info: George Dureau, Mardi Gras 79, New Orleans, A Carnival Bestiary, signed silkscreen (Edition of 5,000). 36″ x 23″ from online auction: https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/george-dureau-mardi-gras-79-orleans-3852650766 )
  3. Title  Tennessee Williams Festival Poster 1970’S  

    Artist:   George Dureau (1930-2014)

    Image size:  22 X 26 inches

    Paper size:   26 X 30.5 inches

    Signature: yes 

    Condition: Poster mounted on board size of paper

     

     Provenance: Private Collection of Don Dureau; Gifted to Don Dureau, by his brother George Dureau

    Asking Price:  600 USD / Shipping is from Dallas, Texas

 

 

George Dureau Estate Authentic Vintage Photographs 1970-80’s

 “If I contribute something strong to photography that’s probably it,

  my ability to picture the model’s sexuality in their brain or their life

  as told through their face, at the same time.”

  – George Dureau

 

SEE FULL LIST OF AVAILABLE WORKS HERE:

Digital private view includes all 12 paintings owned by the Estate and a selection of 150 photographs.

Each work is displayed with a high-resolution image, artwork information, and pricing details.

https://privateviews.artlogic.net/2/7c908cbf57ab31fa7f6d69/

 

 

George Dureau (1930-2014), American. New Orleans, Lousiana, USA.

Selection of Authentic Silver Gelatin (Darkroom Printed) Vintage Photographs.

Acquired directly by the trustee of the Dureau estate, his brother Don Dureau, whom I am now friends with.

With permission and in collaboration with Arthur Roger Gallery, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA.

Prices Vary /  Please see under each image for details & price.

Condition reports available upon request.

Sales include Certificate of Authenticity & Estate Stamp on Verso.

Shipping is from New Orleans, Louisina, USA.

 

 
 
George Dureau
Born December 28, 1930
New Orleans, Louisiana, United States
Died April 7, 2014 (aged 83)
   
Education LSU and Tulane University
Known for Painter, Photographer

 

George Valentine Dureau (December 28, 1930 – April 7, 2014) was an American artist whose long career was most notable for charcoal sketches and black and white photography of poor white and black athletes, dwarfs, and amputees. Robert Mapplethorpe is said to have been inspired by Dureau’s amputee and dwarf photographs, which showed the figures as “exposed and vulnerable, playful and needy, complex and entirely human individuals.”

 

Biography

Dureau was born to Clara Rosella Legett Dureau and George Valentine Dureau in the Lakeview neighborhood of New Orleans, Louisiana. He was raised in nearby Bayou St. John. He graduated with a fine arts degree from LSU in 1952, after which he began architectural studies at Tulane University. He briefly served in the U.S. Army. Before being able to survive as an artist, he worked for Kreeger’s, a New Orleans department store, as a display designer/window dresser. For the vast majority of his life, he lived in the French Quarter, where he was well known for his eccentricity and hospitality. His friend and student, Robert Mapplethorpe restaged many of his earlier black and white photographs. Dureau died of Alzheimer’s disease.

 

Works

Some of his pieces are held at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art. Several of his works are displayed publicly throughout New Orleans, most notably, the pediment sculpture for Harrah’s New Orleans, and his cast-bronze sculptures stand sentinel at the entrance gates of New Orleans City Park. His depiction of a Mardi Gras parade dominates one wall in Gallier Hall. “Black 1973–1986,” an exhibition of black and white photographs concentrating on young black men at the Higher Pictures gallery in New York City, garnered rave reviews.

 

Selected Publications 

  • Lucie-Smith, Edward (1985). George Dureau New Orleans: 50 Photographs. London: GMP Publishers Ltd. ISBN0-907040-47-0.
  • Gefter, Philip (2016). George Dureau, The Photographs. New York: Aperture. ISBN978-1-59711-284-0. 

 

References 

  1. ^ “Dureau, George (1930–2014)”. glbtq. December 28, 1930. Archived from the original on March 30, 2014. Retrieved April 8, 2014.
  2. ^ Harrity, Christopher (December 28, 1930). “Artist Spotlight George Dureau”. Advocate.com. Retrieved April 8, 2014.
  3. ^ Jump up to: ab MacCash, Doug (April 7, 2014). “George Dureau, New Orleans master painter and photographer, has died”. The Times-Picayune. NOLA.com. Retrieved April 8, 2014.
  4. ^ Gruber, Richard J. “George Dureau,” 64 Parishes.com
  5. ^ George Dureau: ‘Black 1973–1986’

 

Press

https://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/22/arts/design/george-dureau-black-1973-1986.html

https://www.nola.com/entertainment_life/arts/george-dureau-new-orleans-master-painter-and-photographer-has-died/article_5bb418e9-c06e-57d8-b600-5e5bad5382e3.html

https://www.prospect5.org/artists/george-dureau

https://www.artnet.com/galleries/arthur-roger-gallery/george-dureau-from-the-estate/

 

Exhibitions

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

 

 

 

 

 

PRESS:

PROSPECT.5   SPOTLIGHTS THE INTIMATE EYE OF GEORGE DUREAU, PHOTOGRAPHER

 
By Dave Walker, communication strategist for The Historic New Orleans Collection

Many of the subjects of George Dureau’s photographic portraits look directly at the camera’s lens. “I see you,” their eyes say. “See me.”

The faces the viewer sees are often those of “othered” people — Black people, queer people, little people, naked people, people missing a limb or limbs. People who may have been seen more for their differences from the mainstream than anything else. All are present in the selection of Dureau’s black-and-white photographs chosen by Prospect.5 Curator Grace Deveney for one of three of the citywide contemporary art triennial’s installations on view at The Historic New Orleans Collection through January 23, 2022.

“For the most part, they’re not people who would want to allow, or like, being photographed,” said Arthur Roger, from whose Julia Street gallery most of the Prospect.5 Dureau installation is on loan. “And somehow there was a comfort, and also obviously in some ways a desire, for them to be open and for George to be able to do his photographs. I think that is one of the main aspects that speaks about George. You get to see sort of the inside of these people in a quite remarkable, powerful way.”

John H. Lawrence, THNOC emeritus director of museum programs and himself a fine-art photographer, said Dureau’s portraits reveal a tangible intimacy between photographer and subject.

“George respected the people he asked to sit for him,” said Lawrence. “I don’t say that from a knowledge, just from what the photographs show. The direct stare into the camera, it may have been at George’s direction. Even with the gaze directed in that fashion, you don’t get the kind of quality you see in these portraits unless there is a mutual respect between the photographer and the subject. There is a vibe there that is based on these two people having respect for each other as the photograph is made.”

At left, George Dureau with
B.J. Robinson. (THNOC, gift of Donal Dureau, 2015.0293.2.19.3.10) Right, Brian Reeves, undated, by George Dureau.  (Courtesy of the Dureau Estate and Arthur Roger Gallery

A New Orleans native, Dureau (1930–2014) studied art at Louisiana State University and architecture at Tulane University and served in the US Army. When Roger first met him in the 1970s, Dureau was known more as a painter and for his drawings.

“I was in college,” Roger said. “I worked at a gallery on Royal Street. I was a framer. And the French Quarter was a very different place then. There were a lot of eccentric people, and George was one of those very noticeable people that were in the Quarter.”

Dureau’s photography began as reference material for his other artwork, which frequently portrayed characters of mythology and religion (such as in his “The Parade Paused” mural, displayed inside Gallier Hall, where countless Carnival parades drawing on mythological themes have paused over the decades).

“If you work with anyone who does figurative work, they are always looking for models or they’re looking for some way to have a visual reference,” Roger said. “The photographs in the beginning were clearly for him to have a reference for his paintings. Then, later, I think he really grew and was able to recognize something he could do.”

 

“There was nothing casual about it”

Frequently cited as an influence on Robert Mapplethorpe (Roger once staged a comparative gallery show of both photographer’s work), Dureau’s photographs were never serendipitous, said Roger, who like many of Dureau’s friends and acquaintances posed for him.

“There was nothing casual about it,” Roger said. “Everything was very deliberate. Your head was forced in a very uncomfortable position. Your arms and shoulders and legs — there was nothing that wasn’t pushed into a place where he wanted it. You would feel that this is going to look terrible. When you saw the results of it, it looked perfectly normal. There was never anything accidental. That was part of who he was.”

Dureau was “a pure photographer,” Lawrence said, whose talent lay in his meticulous craftsmanship. “He was responsible for the posing, the lighting, the concept of the pictures, and releasing the shutter.

“The studio offers a lot of control for the photographer, maybe less so for the subject. When you’re in the studio, you’re kind of in there because the photographer wants you there.”

 

Extraordinary works

Arthur Roger: “I think he had this quality that you would only see in New Orleans in that particular time. It’s a terrible loss, but I think he left us with extraordinary works that are going to be remembered for a very, very long time.” (THNOC)

The Prospect.5 exhibition features studio photographs as well as images taken outdoors in various locations around the city, including the French Quarter, where Dureau maintained a noticeable persona until near the end of his life.

Suffering from dementia, he became the focus of a small group of concerned neighbors. The “Friends of George,” organized by email, helped see him through the early stages of decline before his relocation to a care facility. Roger, enlisting Dureau’s half-brother Donald Dureau, arranged for The Historic New Orleans Collection to acquire a trove of Dureau’s photos, artwork, and life ephemera.

“This was a Louisiana artist who had established himself in multiple fields of achievement,” Lawrence said. “That was an important thing for us.”

Said Roger: “Files, little prints – anything that looked of any importance, we boxed it and gave it to The Historic New Orleans Collection. We felt that it was a tremendous victory for George’s legacy.

“For George, I think it was a problem to recognize, in my mind, that the photographs were the most important body of work that he had done. Locally, I think that’s quite the opposite. I think locally, people really embrace the paintings and drawings more. But there’s no question in my mind that [his] photography will go on well beyond any of this.

“You know, I cared about him a lot. I think he had this quality that you would only see in New Orleans in that particular time. It’s a terrible loss, but I think he left us with extraordinary works that are going to be remembered for a very, very long time.”

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