A bustling outdoor art market scene, featuring people in early 20th-century attire viewing and purchasing paintings displayed on a fence. A large palm tree provides shade, and various art styles are visible.

The Spring Fiesta Art Show; 1941; oil on canvas by Clarence Millet (1897–1959) The Historic New Orleans Collection, gift of Laura Simon Nelson, 1996.122.1

A Most Significant Gift

The Laura Simon Nelson Collection

May 2 to November 4, 2017

400 Chartres Street

Laura Simon Nelson Galleries for Louisiana Art

The Laura Simon Nelson Galleries will once again showcase selections from the extensive collection of Louisiana art donated to HNOC by Laura Simon Nelson. The largest single donation of visual art ever received by HNOC, Nelson’s collection is a diverse assemblage of more than 425 artworks, including 70 pieces of Newcomb pottery. Compiled with guidance from longtime friend, collector, and dealer George E. Jordan, the collection showcases the talents of many artists who lived and worked in Louisiana.

The Spring Fiesta Art Show, 1941, by Clarence Millet (1897–1959). HNOC, gift of Laura Simon Nelson, 1996.122.1

More than 80 works from the collection will be exhibited in A Most Significant Gift. The featured artists include Wayman Adams, Jacques Amans, Knute Heldner, Morris Henry Hobbs, Clarence Millet, Achille Peretti, Paul Poincy, Ellsworth Woodward, and William Woodward. The Newcomb pottery display will include vessels decorated by Aurelia Arbo, Henrietta Davidson Bailey, Sadie Irvine, Ada Wilt Lonnegan, and Anna Frances Simpson.