Although Vaudechamp”s story is, in many respects, a timeless parable about fathers, sons, and self-invention, it is also a tale of a particular historical moment.
Vaudechamp in New Orleans
by William Keyse Rudolph
A biography and survey of the works of Jean-Joseph Vaudechamp, the French painter who made portraits of elite Louisiana Creoles in the 1830s.
Vaudechamp in New Orleans
HNOC 2007
hardcover • 8" × 9½" • 128 pp.
88 color images; 8 b&w
ISBN 978-0-917860-51-5
$25.00
During the 1830s Parisian artist Jean-Joseph Vaudechamp (1790–1864) spent his winters in Louisiana, establishing himself as the region’s leading portrait painter. He was, quite simply, the best-educated artist yet to have worked in New Orleans, a graduate of the École des Beaux-Arts and the studio of Anne-Louis Girodet-Trioson. In Vaudechamp in New Orleans, author William Keyse Rudolph traces the life and work of the French portraitist. Compellingly narrated, this volume is also a meditation on fathers, sons, and the role of portraiture in the transmission of culture.
Vaudechamp is one of the primary figures responsible for the unique character of Louisiana art. As such, he eminently deserves our attention.
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