O What a Night! Gala 2023 Photos
On Saturday, October 21, 2023 Ogden Museum of Southern Art hosted its annual O What a Night! Gala. The evening featured a live and silent auction, a seated dinner, dancing and… Read More about O What a Night! Gala 2023 Photos
O What a Night! Gala Patron Party 2023 Photos
On Thursday, October 19, 2023 O What a Night! Gala Patrons gathered at Arthur Roger’s French Quarter home for a Patron Party. The evening featured live music by Wendell Brunious,… Read More about O What a Night! Gala Patron Party 2023 Photos
O What a Night! Gala Artist Highlight Jonathan Hodge
Jonathan Hodge is a classical realist painter and teacher with a keen interest in subjects involving the South. Hodge grew up in Covington, Louisiana and earned a B.F.A from the Columbus College of Art and Design in Ohio. He also studied the human form under the head anatomist of a cadaver lab before studying classical painting under Juliette Aristides in Seattle. He presented his work at the 7th International Conference on the Arts in Society in the U.K. and has been featured in publications including “American Art Collector Magazine,” “Realism Today” and “The Art Renewal Center.” His work has been exhibited at the Haynes Galleries and the Maryhill Museum and hangs in numerous collections including the Aslan Foundation and The Columbus Club. Currently, he is developing a new body of work and teaching at the New Orleans Academy of Fine Arts. Read More about O What a Night! Gala Artist Highlight Jonathan Hodge
BIDDING IS NOW OPEN FOR THE O WHAT A NIGHT! GALA SILENT AUCTION, PRESENTED BY NEAL AUCTION BIDDING CLOSES OCTOBER 22 AT 5 P.M.
O What a Night! Gala is Saturday, October 21 and the silent auction, presented Neal Auction, is officially opening for bidding! We are pleased to present 100+ works of art… Read More about BIDDING IS NOW OPEN FOR THE O WHAT A NIGHT! GALA SILENT AUCTION, PRESENTED BY NEAL AUCTION BIDDING CLOSES OCTOBER 22 AT 5 P.M.
SNEAK PEEK OF ITEMS IN THE O WHAT A NIGHT! GALA SILENT AUCTION, SPONSORED BY NEAL AUCTION Bidding opens Saturday, October 14, 2023 at 5 p.m.
O What a Night! Gala is Saturday, October 21, 2023! Here is a sneak peek of this year’s Silent Auction, sponsored by Neal Auction. We are pleased to present 100+… Read More about SNEAK PEEK OF ITEMS IN THE O WHAT A NIGHT! GALA SILENT AUCTION, SPONSORED BY NEAL AUCTION Bidding opens Saturday, October 14, 2023 at 5 p.m.
Sneak Peak of Artwork in the O What a Night! Gala Live Auction Taking place Saturday, October 21, 2023
O What a Night! Gala is Saturday, October 21, 2023! A black-tie affair, the glamorous evening will honor New Orleans based artist Luis Cruz Azaceta with the 2023 Opus Award…. Read More about Sneak Peak of Artwork in the O What a Night! Gala Live Auction Taking place Saturday, October 21, 2023
![Featured in “Knowing Who We Are” is Michael J. Deas’ “Edgar Allan Poe.”
Michael J. Deas is a master realist painter and one of the nation's premier illustrators. Working from his studio in New Orleans’ historic French Quarter, Deas creates paintings and drawings with an elegant eye and a mastery of the oil medium unusual in a contemporary context. Deas works primarily in oils painted on wooden panels, employing a combination of the19th century techniques of grisaille and imprimatura, over which are added layers of semi-opaque paint and transparent glazes.
Raised in suburban New Orleans and later in Long Island, NY, Deas began illustrating novels and children’s books at age 19. He has subsequently gone on to paint six covers for Time magazine, and 21 postage stamps for the U.S. Postal Service. Two of his stamp portraits, of James Dean and Marilyn Monroe, are among the best selling in U.S. postal annals. His luminous redesign of the Columbia Pictures logo, painted in 1991, remains one of the most familiar images in cinematic history.
Deas was commissioned by the Stamp Advisory Committee for the U.S. Postal Service to illustrate four stamps based on Edgar Allen Poe. Ultimately, only one was released. Over the course of developing the final stamp, Deas designed and executed four tinted sketches based on four photographs and illustrations inspired by the author's works. The version chosen for the 2009 stamp was based on the “Thompson” photograph, taken by William A. Pratt in 1849.
As Ogden Museum prepared to mount a survey of Michael Deas’ work in 2012, it was clear to the curator and artist alike that a portrait of Poe was essential to the exhibition. With the stamp portrait unavailable for the exhibition, Deas agreed to finish another Edgar Allan Poe portrait. On October 1, 2012, the “Ogden Poe” was unveiled to the public, sharing space with other iconic images from Deas’ career.
You can view this stunning painting at the O through March 3, 2024.
[Michael J. Deas, “Edgar Allan Poe,” 2012, Oil on paper laid on panel, 22 x 17.5 inches, Gift of Roger Houston Ogden and Michael Wilkinson]](https://ogdenmuseum.org/wp-content/plugins/instagram-feed/img/placeholder.png)