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Wendy Rodrigue stands next to her late husband's last self-portrait. She photographed him in the early hours of the morning while he was painting, and he used the photo to create a portrait. Featured in "The River is the Road: The Paintings of George Rodrigue" at the West Baton Rouge Museum.
- PHOTO OF EMPLOYEE ROBIN MILLER
George Rodrigue's 1988 painting "Indians, Cajuns and Cowboys" is featured in "The River is the Road: Paintings by George Rodrigue" at the West Baton Rouge Museum. The painting pays homage to three specific but different aspects of American culture.
- PHOTO OF EMPLOYEE ROBIN MILLER
Wendy Rodrigue talks to a group of children at a summer history camp at the West Baton Rouge Museum about her late husband's work in the exhibition "River is a Road: Paintings by George Rodrigue."
- PHOTO OF EMPLOYEE ROBIN MILLER
George Rodrigue's 2005 painting "Fireworks on the River" is featured in "The River is the Way: The Paintings of George Rodrigue" at the West Baton Rouge Museum.
- PHOTO OF EMPLOYEE ROBIN MILLER
Wendy Rodrigue talks to a group of children attending a summer history camp at the West Baton Rouge Museum about her late husband's work in the museum's "The River is the Road: The Paintings of George Rodrigue."
- PHOTO OF EMPLOYEE ROBIN MILLER
One side of George Rodrigue's 3D sculpture guards the entrance to the Brick Gallery at the West Baton Rouge Museum. The sculpture is on display in "The River is the Road: The Paintings of George Rodrigue" at the West Baton Rouge Museum.
- PHOTO OF EMPLOYEE ROBIN MILLER
George Rodrigue's 2009 painting "Alice in Wonderland" is on display in "The River is the Road: The Paintings of George Rodrigue" at the West Baton Rouge Museum.
- PHOTO OF EMPLOYEE ROBIN MILLER
Wendy Rodrigue talks to a group of campers at the West Baton Rouge Museum's Summer History Camp about her late husband's last unfinished painting, which is on display in the museum exhibit "The River is the Road: The Paintings of George Rodrigue" at the West Museum of Baton Rouge.
- PHOTO OF EMPLOYEE ROBIN MILLER
George Rodrigue's 2013 painting "Today He Stopped Loving Her" is in "The River is the Road: Paintings by George Rodrigue" at the West Baton Rouge Museum.
- PHOTO OF EMPLOYEE ROBIN MILLER
George Rodrigue's 2013 "RODRIGUE (The Last Self-Portrait)" is on display in "The River is the Road: Paintings by George Rodrigue" at the West Baton Rouge Museum.
- PHOTO OF EMPLOYEE ROBIN MILLER
Robin Miller
The clock by the bedside said exactly three in the morning, and Wendy Rodrigue was awake.
She knew her husband, George Rodrigue, didn't have much time in the world. And he knew it.
That's why she wasn't near his bed.
Rodrigue was dying of lung cancer, which is believed to have been caused by chronic inhalation of aerosol fumes in an airless studio while painting landscapes of Louisiana, Cajun people, and his beloved blue dog.
"Sometimes she would paint the canvas with nail polish," Wendy said.
She tells the story of her late husband's battle with cancer to a group of sixth-graders at the Whitehead Gallery at the West Baton Rouge Museum, where the exhibition "The River is the Road: The Paintings of George Rodrigue" premiered on June 17.
Premiere is the right word here, as the museum is the first stop for this exhibit, which will travel to museums in Louisiana and throughout the South for the next two years after closing in West Baton Rouge on October 29.
In the show's debut, Wendy guides children attending the museum's annual summer history camp, telling them not only about the paintings and their subjects, but also about Rodrigue.
No, it's more than that. He tells them that Rodrigue's stories are actually theirs because he wanted his creations to inspire their individual works. He also appreciated their interpretations of his work, as well as Wendy listening and commenting on their ideas and suggestions.
The camper suggests that the artist now sit down at his easel in heaven and paint a Blue Dog for everyone there.
Wendy holds back a few tears at the thought when she has to pause as she tells a story about her husband painting in the wee hours of the morning.
Please note that there are no iPads or TVs in the collection. The images themselves tell the story of Rodrigue's more than 40-year career with explanations that connect each element to the theme of the river.
However, the river in this case is actually not so much a waterway as a path of life, which in Rodrigue's paintings always opened the way to the sunny horizon of hope and happiness.
Wendy pays attention to these cases as she tours the gallery, and Rodrigue connects each one to her, and the kids are fascinated. She has since married Rodrigue's best friend, photographer Doug Magnus, who is also committed to preserving the artist's legacy.
Several years after Rodrigue's death, Wendy continued her efforts by co-founding the non-profit The Life & Legacy Foundation with Wendy Rodrigue, which not only curates and curates exhibitions of her late husband's work, but also offers educational resources at local schools.
But this year is special because it is the 10th anniversary of his death, but as Wendy quickly notices, the artist lives thanks to this art and his stories.
"And he lives because of Blue Dog," he said.
Rodrigue was 69 when he died on December 14, 2013 in Houston, where he was being treated for cancer. In 2012, he was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer, after which he went into remission. Then the cancer came back.
Wendy told how Rodrigue began having trouble climbing the stairs from his studio on the first floor of their townhouse to the bedroom upstairs, how he converted the small office next to their bedroom into a studio, and how he woke up one morning at 3am. . it turned out that if it wasn't for Rodrigue, he wouldn't be there.
She saw the light in the office converted into a studio and grabbed the camera. Rodrigue painted at the easel.
Painting has been his passion since childhood in New Iberia when he was given a paint by numbers kit. He turned the number print inside out and used the paint from the kit to create the clown.
"This clown was always hanging on the wall in his studio," Wendy said.
Rodrigue was born on March 13, 1944 in New Iberia. He was the only child of the freemason George Rodrigue Sr. and his wife Marie Courrega Rodrigue, who was 100 when she later moved in with Rodrigue and Wendy.
Marie Rodrigue was a young mother when Rodrigue was diagnosed with polio when he was in the third grade. It was then that he acquired a paint-by-numbers kit, which not only fueled his love of painting, but also, after he recovered completely from polio, led him to a life as an artist.
Or can it be called the river of his life? While not all of the paintings on display at the West Baton Rouge Museum appear to have a clear, watery path, a closer look reveals that the water is there and always has a way of finding light.
Meanwhile, Rodrigue eventually enrolled at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, then studied at the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles, and returned to his home state where he photographed and painted the mystical local landscape, then began adding people. .
"George said, 'What if I started photographing people who came out from behind my oak trees? Wendy said. "He said he painted them white to show the light shining from them."
He then introduced Blue Dog to the world. Or maybe he was introduced to the Blue Dog. Anyway, between 1987 and 1988, Rodrigue painted a gray and white loup garou inspired by his late spaniel terrier, Tiffany, for a collection of ghost stories. The loup garou eventually became the Blue Dog, which became famous in 1992 when Rodrigue's artwork was commissioned for an Absolut Vodka advertising campaign.
Now Blue Dog hangs among its oak landscapes and Cajun people at the Whitehead Gallery museum, while Blue Dogs over Rodrigue's "Swamp Dog" photographic series of Atchafalaya Swamp hangs at the Brick Gallery museum.
However, there is one image where Blue Dog sheds light on its creator. This is a job that resulted from Wendy's search for her husband at 3am.
A memory of that night when she woke up alone in bed, grabbed the camera and saw Rodrigue taking a picture with his back turned. Beside it was a glass of milk.
"He was beautiful," she said. "I went down to his eye level and whispered, 'George.' He turned and looked at me while I was taking the picture. A lot of the guys I talk to ask me if he's angry in the picture and I tell them he's not. He has the same expression on his face as when he took this photo; it was a picture of deep concentration."
In fact, Rodrigue liked the photo so much that he combined it into a collage where he is blue and Blue Dog is an abstract figure in red. It marks the end of his river - his journey - and Wendy takes that into account in every performance.
He also gives a printout to each of the museums, schools, and other institutions he visits as part of his institution's programs and exhibitions.
"We had cards from this piece printed out for this show and every kid at camp will get them before they leave," she said.
It's her way of connecting the end of Rodrigue's artistic journey with the beginning of theirs, so that the river continues to flow in Louisiana's never-ending art journey.
Email Robin Miller atromiller@theadvocate.com
Robin Miller
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FAQs
What type of art did George Rodrigue do? ›
Climate controls: Many works of art are contained in special climate-controlled glass boxes, protecting them from extreme temperatures and moisture in the air, much of which is a byproduct of breathing. Inventory: Just keeping track of what's in-house and what's on tour keeps a museum's collection protected from loss.
What is George Rodrigue style? ›About George Rodrigue
In the early 1990s his Blue Dog Series, based on the French-Cajun loup-garou legend, catapulted him to worldwide fame, while his dark Renaissance-like landscapes developed into robust modern masterpieces.
Museum- and gallery-goers are technically considered to be invited into those spaces, and assuming that the institution took reasonable measures to protect the piece in question, an insurance company will pick up the tab for any accidental damage to a work of art.
Do paintings in museums have glass over them? ›Museums will often put glass in front of certain paintings and types of art where the glass doesn't dramatically reduce the ability to see brush strokes. But it does in others, and so they won't glaze where it might reduce the educational value of the painting by blocking the view.
Do paintings lose copyright? ›You have a copyright in your artwork as soon as it has been created and fixed in a tangible object. It does not need to be registered with the copyright office or have a copyright notice attached to receive copyright protection. A copyright lasts for the life of the artist, plus 70 years after the artist's death.
What is George Rodrigue known for? ›George Rodrigue, born and raised in New Iberia, is best known for his Blue Dog series of paintings and sculptures.
What is a fact about George Rodrigue? ›He was a strong advocate for art education
Because art education wasn't available when he was growing up, he set out to inspire budding artists by writing art books, visiting schools and children's hospitals, and by launching the George Rodrigue foundation of the arts, which supports art in education.
Known for his folksy, Cajun-inspired works, Rodrigue painted around 40 canvases. One of the stories was about an evil guard dog, and in illustrating it Rodrigue drew inspiration from the Cajun loup-garou, or werewolf, legend.
How much is an original Blue Dog worth? ›
Blue Dog, 1996. Oil on canvas, 14 x 11 inches. Sold for: $112,500.00.
Why did George Rodrigue paint Blue Dog? ›Rodrigue stumbled upon the Blue Dog in a way. He was commissioned for a painting inspired by Cajun ghost stories. As he told PBS, he remembered that as a child his mother would always warn him that if he wasn't good, the loup-garou would come and get him. If playback doesn't begin shortly, try restarting your device.
What kind of dog is the Blue Dog painting? ›The dog in the “Blue Dog” paintings by George Rodrigue is not a real breed. The paintings were inspired by a combination of Rodrigue's deceased dog Tiffany and a loup-garou or rougarou, a dog-like creature from Cajun folklore.
Is it a crime to destroy art? ›The California Art Preservation Act (CAPA) is a 1979 California law that provides legal protection for artists' moral rights by prohibiting the alteration or destruction of their artwork without their consent. The law has since been amended in part.
Is it illegal to destroy artwork? ›The Right to Protection from Destruction
Even a person who purchases this type of work for their collection does not have a right to destroy or modify it without the consent of the artist. VARA provides a right for the artist to sue if their work has been destroyed.
- Reevaluate the artwork. Evaluating unsold artwork is a crucial step for artists to understand why their work may not be getting the recognition they desire. ...
- Offer the artwork to other venues. ...
- Repackage the artwork. ...
- Store it for the future. ...
- Donate the artwork. ...
- Repurpose the materials.
Failing the existence of a sticker, you can tell by just looking at it! Move yourself around until the view out the window, or a light bulb that is turned on is reflected in the glass. The light will be purple, green, or blue - some colour it isn't meant to be!
Why are you not allowed to take pictures in museums? ›The biggest hurdle to wide-open photo policies is the issue of copyright. Museums often do not hold the copyrights to the works they display, which creates legal problems when visitors start snapping away.
Is it OK to take pictures at an art museum? ›Visitor photography is usually prohibited when institutions or artist estates think it might lead to piracy, such as recreating hi-res copies of artwork for profit. Copyright restriction systems can sometimes create barriers for the wrong people.
Can I paint someone else's painting and sell it? ›What is illegal and what is just bad form? If you copy another artists' work it is illegal to sell it as your own without permission from the original artist as this would infringe their copyright.
Can I sell a painting I bought? ›
It is illegal to sell, publicize and publish a copy of an artwork unless you have prior permission from the copyright owner. It is also illegal to publish and sell an artwork that's substantially similar to another original work of art.
What is the most stolen work of copyrighted art? ›Throughout six centuries, the Ghent Altarpiece, also called “The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb,” has been burned, forged, and raided in three different wars. It is, in fact, the world's most stolen artwork— and is considered one of the most influential paintings ever made. What exactly makes the piece so special?
What type of art did Georges Seurat do? › What type of art is Georges Seurat known for? ›Seurat is considered one of the most important Post-Impressionist painters. He moved away from the apparent spontaneity and rapidity of Impressionism and developed a structured, more monumental art to depict modern urban life. 'Bathers at Asnières' is an important transitional work.
What type of artwork did George Braque create? › What painting techniques did Georges Seurat use? ›Georges Seurat is chiefly remembered as the pioneer of the Neo-Impressionist technique commonly known as Pointillism, or Divisionism, an approach associated with a softly flickering surface of small dots or strokes of color.
What was Georges Seurat's painting technique called? ›Pointillism was a revolutionary painting technique pioneered by Georges Seurat and Paul Signac in Paris in the mid-1880s.
What is one of the famous masterpiece of Georges Seurat? ›A Sunday on La Grande Jatte (1884-1886)
This is both the largest and most famous painting created by Georges Seurat in his artistic career.
Since 1998 the record price for this artist at auction is 149,240,000 USD for Les Poseuses, Ensemble (Petite version), sold at Christie's New York in 2022. Georges Seurat has been featured in articles for ARTnews, Daily Art Magazine and ArtDaily.
What is the difference between Impressionism and pointillism? ›Paintings done in an impressionistic style tend to have a lot of emotion and sense of movement. Conversely, works produced with pointillism techniques appear very flat, static and lifeless.
What does Rodrigue mean? ›
Meaning:famous power. Rodrigue as a boy's name is related to the Old German name Roderick. The meaning of Rodrigue is "famous power".
What is the design style of Cubism? ›Cubism rejected the traditional goal of art, that of creating a facsimile of nature, and instead emphasized the two-dimensionality of the picture plane. Typical features of cubist art include multiple perspectives, hard geometric forms, exaggerated or stylized features and flat or monochromatic color.
Who invented Cubism? ›Cubism was one of the most influential visual art styles of the early twentieth century. It was created by Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881–1973) and Georges Braque (French, 1882–1963) in Paris between 1907 and 1914.
What is the name of the style of the groundbreaking art that Picasso and Georges Braque created invented? ›Cubism is an artistic movement, created by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, which employs geometric shapes in depictions of humans and other forms.