Ogden Museum of Southern Art
925 Camp St
New Orleans, LA 70130
504.539.9650 | HOURS
925 Camp St
New Orleans, LA 70130
504.539.9650 | HOURS
Minnie Evans, Untitled (Green Forms), c.1950, Ink, crayon and collage on paper, Gift of the Roger Houston Ogden Collection
The art of the American South has never existed in isolation. It has – since the earliest moments of the American experience – run concurrent with dominant academic art movements and popular trends, while maintaining a distinct regional identity. On the 4th floor of Ogden Museum’s Goldring Hall, Knowing Who We Are will explore the rise of Abstraction, Photography and Vernacular Art.
While Modernism and Abstract Expressionism developed in the first half of the twentieth century, many artists working in the American South incorporated these new ideas into their practice after World War II. This section of the exhibition traces the development of abstraction in Southern Art through examples by leading figures including Fritz Bultman, Dusti Bongé, Sam Gilliam, Ida Kohlmeyer, Robert Reed, Eugene Martin, Minnie Evans, John T. Scott, Kendall Shaw and Dorothy Hood, among others.
As photography developed in the 20th century, Southern artists were deeply involved in bringing lens-based studio practices from the realm of commercial portraiture and journalism into contemporary art dialogue. Photographers include Marion Post Wolcott, Roland Freeman, Eudora Welty, William Christenberry, Kael Alford and L. Kasimu Harris, among others.
Art in the South came to the forefront of international attention, as when the art world embraced the freedom and innovation of Self-Taught and Visionary art in the late-20th century, and vernacular artists from the South arose as leading figures in that national dialogue. Works by Thornton Dial, Bessie Harvey, Jimmy Lee Sudduth, Helen Burkhart Mayfield, Clementine Hunter, Roy Ferdinand, George Andrews and more are featured on this floor in conversation with abstraction and photography.
Artists in this exhibition include:
Kael Alford, Leroy Almon, George “The Dot Man” Andrews, Mac Ball, Halcyone Barnes, John Barnes, Louisiana Pettway Bendolph, Lynda Benglis, Vincencia Blount, Dusti Bonge, Jerry Brown, Fritz Bultman, David Butler, Archie Byron, Debbie Fleming Caffery, Keith Calhoun, Keith Carter, Henri Cartier-Bresson, William Christenberry, William Claxton, Maude Schuyler Clay, John Clemmer, Kevin Cole, Clyde Connell, Jeffrey Cook, Ralston Crawford, Paul “the Baltimore Glassman” Darmafall, Patrick Davis, Bess Dawson, Thornton Dial, Vanzant Driver, George Dunbar, George Dureau, Stephen Dee Edwards, William Eggleston, Minnie Evans, Roy Ferdinand, Reverend Howard Finster, Roland Freeman, Sam Gilliam, Theora Hamblett, Bessie Harvey, Moses Hogan, Ruth Atkinson Holmes, Dorothy Hood, Marie Hull, Jacqueline Humphries, Nene Humphrey, Clementine Hunter, Birney Imes, James Harold Jennings, Sudie Johnson, Frank Jones, Ida Kohlmeyer, Eddie Lanieri, Clarence John Laughlin, Baldwin Lee, Winston Ogle Link, Shawne Major, Sally Mann, Eugene Martin, Helen Burkhart Mayfield, Ed McGowin, Columbus “Dude” McGriff, Michael Meads, Lanier Meaders, Gene Merritt, Reuben Aaron “R.A.” Miller, Reginald Mitchell, William Monaghan, Andrew Moore, William Lee Moreland, Elemore Morgan Sr., Sister Gertrude Morgan, Eddy Mumma, Paul Ninas, Sherry Owens, Gordon Parks, Anastasia Pelais, Benjamin Franklin Perkins, Martin Payton, P.H. Polk, Robert O. Preusser, Melville Price, Robert Rector, Robert Reed, Roger Rice, Kathleen Robbins, Sultan Rogers, Nellie Mae Rowe, O.L. Samuels, Flip Schuike, John T. Scott, Welmon Sharlhorne, Kendall Shaw, Merton D. Simpson, Herbert Singleton, Michael P. Smith, Mary T. Smith, Keith Sonnier, Alec Soth, Henry Speller, Mark Steinmetz, Will Henry Stevens, Betsy Stewart, Jack Stewart, Jimmy Lee Sudduth, Robert Tannen, Inez Walker, George Wardlaw, Lewis Watts, Willie White and Ernest C. Withers
Support Knowing Who We Are
MADE POSSIBLE BY THE
TERRA FOUNDATION
FOR AMERICAN ART
Major Sponsor
Tracy Copeland
Roger H. Ogden & Ken Barnes
Michael Wilkinson
Contributing Sponsor
New Orleans Tourism and Cultural Fund
Supporting Sponsor
Jason Waguespack & Jeffery Morgan
Gregory Holt & Lucy Burnett
Partner
Eugenie and Joseph Jones Family Foundation
Stuart B. Hurt
Catherine Makk
Holly & Geoff Snodgrass
Charles D. Urstadt & David Bernard
Host Committee
Anonymous
Baylee Badway
Ron Bechet
Suzie & Ted Bloch III M.D.
Steven, Erin & Ethan Chevalier
Harrison & Veronica Cho
Brady & Scott Cunningham
Beverly Dale
Mollye & Laurent Demosthenidy
Debra J. Fischman
Monica Frois & Eve Masinter in Honor of Shirley Rabé Masinter
Ariel & L. Kasimu Harris
Jessie & Beau Haynes
Donna & Jack Little
Matthew B. Moreland
MR: a visual communication studio
Don & Lola Norris
Alan Rothschild
Schley Family Foundation
Laura & Sonny Shields
Nathalie Simon
William & Jane Sizeler
Micki Beth Stiller
Sarah Story & Chris Ragland
Troy Scroggins
Carla & Cleophus Thomas, Jr.
Erica J. Washington
Fern & Kevin Watters
Jennie Cannon West & Jason Richards
Sharonda R. Williams
Penny Weaver in memory of Ersy Schwartz
Justin I. Woods