Collection

New to Ogden Museum: La Vietnamita - Mother in Flight by Enrique Alférez

Born in the State of Zacatecas, Mexico in 1901, Enrique Alférez’s life spanned almost the entirety of the 20th century. Alférez settled in New Orleans in 1929, and in 1952 at Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop, he met his wife, Peggy Selway, a nurse from Harrisburg, PA. The couple split their time between Mexico and New Orleans. In Peggy, Enrique found an intellectual…

August Collection Highlight John T. Scott

This month’s Ogden Museum permanent collection artist highlight focuses on New Orleans artist, John T. Scott, recently featured in the Museum’s exhibition, What Music is Within: Black Abstraction from the Permanent Collection. Artist Background John T. Scott, born in 1940 in New Orleans, may be the city’s most prolific sculptor. Scott was raised in the…

In Memoriam: Keith Sonnier (1941 – 2020)⁣ An Artist that Brought the Light of Louisiana to the World

On Saturday, July 18, the world lost a major voice in contemporary art, Keith Sonnier. Born in 1941, Sonnier grew up in the rice fields and Cajun culture of Mamou, Louisiana. After graduating from University of Southwestern Louisiana, Lafayette in 1963, he went on to earn an M.F.A. from Rutgers University in 1966. In New…

Curated Conversation with "What Music is Within" Artist, John Barnes

What Music is Within artist, John Barnes, and Bradley Sumrall, Curator of the Collection, discuss Mr. Barnes’ studio practice, career and inspiration. ABOUT JOHN BARNES John Barnes is a sculptor who mainly deals in wood assemblages. Barnes first took an interest in art when he enrolled in the Baton Rouge public school system, but his…

July Collection Highlight Michael Meads

The spirit that lies in the work of Michael Meads is whimsical yet foreboding. His graphite drawings, like the-larger-than-life “Der Liebestod’ or “Ghosts Along the Levee,” are a gluttony of New Orleans mayhem – you get lost in the detailed magistery of his scenes depicting debauchery, tragedy and chaos. His early works consisted of photographic…

June Collection Highlight Lonnie Holley

This month’s Ogden Museum permanent collection artist highlight focuses on Lonnie Holley. Lonnie Holley is a self-taught Black artist from the American South known for his vernacular and contemporary art and his music. Lonnie Holley was born during the Jim Crow era on February 10, 1950 in Birmingham, Alabama. He was one of many…

May Collection Highlight Exploring the Work of The Dot Man, George Andrews

On the surface, George Andrews (1911-1996) seemed to live a simple life, as far as artists are concerned. He was a family man, raising ten children, two of whom excelled following their passions of painting and writing. Artistically, he was known as the “Dot Man,” for his use of the simple shape both on the canvas…

April Collection Highlight Exploring the Work of Noel Rockmore

On December 15, 1928, Noel Rockmore was born into a world of art. Born from two prolific artists, Gladys Rockmore Davis and Floyd Davis, Noel was a child drawn to musical performance. An early case of polio crippled him, so the young boy learned to paint. From that point on he painted. He attended the…

Celebrating Earth Day Highlighting Mark Messersmith's "Victim of Silence"

In celebration of Earth Day, we’re examining Mark Messersmith’s piece Victim of Silence, a representation of the natural world. When Mark Messersmith first moved to Tallahassee, Florida in the mid 1980s, he was immediately struck by the wildness of the surrounding landscape, a wildness gone from much of America. His studio practice immediately turned to an exploration in…

Ogden Museum of Southern Art