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Visual Arts Collection
Summary Of Collections
Paintings Portraits The strength of the painting collection is early Louisiana portraiture dating from the 1780s until the 1890s. Portraiture dominated painting in Louisiana since the Spanish Colonial Period with the documented arrival of the painter Jose Salazar in 1782 from Mexico. The museum’s major holdings of Salazar include the paintings Portrait of Ignacios de Balderes, Señora Ignacio de Balderes and Child, and Bishop Luis Ignacio Maria de Penalver y Cardenas. The collection directly reflects the influx of artists from the Northern states and Europe traveling to New Orleans and southern Louisiana in search of portrait commissions during the early nineteenth century. The museum has significant holdings of portraits by: The museum has two of the four signed paintings by the free man of color, Julian Hudson, including his well-known self portrait. The Louisiana State Museum is the largest repository of paintings by the premier French portraitists working in Louisiana during the 1830s and 1840s, Jean Joseph Vaudechamp and Jacques Amans. The museum’s collection remains strong in portraiture even after the Civil War and up to the twentieth century, with paintings by: The Louisiana State Museum has the largest collection of nineteenth century Louisiana portraiture. Landscape and Genre The museum has a relatively small collection of landscape and genre paintings from the turn of the century. Landscape and genre paintings in the collection are represented by: Marine The museum has a splendid selection of nineteenth century marine paintings by Louisiana artists. The collection includes the important painting Tugboat "Panther" Towing the Cotton Ships "Sea King," "Themis" and "Columbia" Up the River to New Orleans, the product of a collaboration between the artists James Evans and Edward Arnold. Also the museum has significant holdings of sailing ships from the 1850s by Edward Arnold, steamboats by August Norieri and harbor scenes by Captain William Challoner. The museum also has numerous paintings of ocean going vessels by Antoine Jacobsen, who never visited Louisiana but painted many of the ships which frequented the port of New Orleans. Early and Mid Twentieth Century In terms of the early and mid-twentieth century, the collection has a quality selection by Louisiana artists. Important works by Paul Ninas, William Woodward, Clarence Millet, John McCrady, Caroline Durieux and Wayman Adams have been acquired by the museum. Contemporary The museum has recently acquired paintings by contemporary Louisiana artists such as Christopher Guarisco and Harvey Harris. This area of collecting needs to be further developed. Folk Art The collection incorporates a good selection of paintings by the nationally renowned contemporary folk artists Sister Gertrude Morgan and Clementine Hunter. Miniatures There are one hundred pieces that make up the miniature collection. The collection consists of representations of prominent early Louisianans by miniature painters working in Louisiana, the South and Europe.
Works of Art on Paper Fine Art Prints and Watercolors The museum has good representation of fine art prints that relate to Louisiana from the late nineteenth century to the mid twentieth century. Among the highlights of the collection are the lithographs by the free man of color Jules Lion in the 1840s, and the etchings by Bror A. Wikstrom, Morris Henry Hobbs and Knute Heldner. Additionally the collection includes three antebellum estate paintings by Adrien Persac from the 1850s, nature morte watercolors by Achille Perelli and George David Coulon, the watercolors and prints of the 1940s artist Charles Reinike, and the work of Newcomb College artist Sadie Irvine. Newspaper Illustrations The museum continues to acquire illustrations that feature Louisiana topics from nationally based newspapers such as Harper’s Weekly and Frank Leslie’s. These illustrations date from the 1850s to the early 1900s. The illustrations frequently document a specific moment in the history of Louisiana from a contemporary perspective. Also, native customs and traditions including Mardi Gras are featured in these illustrations. Posters The museum collects posters from various festivals and events organized throughout Louisiana largely from the twentieth century. Postcards The six thousand piece postcard collection focuses on images of Louisiana and New Orleans from the early to the late twentieth century. This collection does have a large component relating to both World Wars and Europe.
Photography George Francois Mugnier The mass production and availability beginning in the 1880s of dry plate glass negative allowed photographers the flexibility and technology to leave the confines of the portrait studio. George Francois Mugnier seized the opportunity and created a series of a photographs of the people and sites of New Orleans and southern Louisiana during the 1880s to 1920s. The museum has Mugnier’s glass plate negatives and a selection of vintage prints and stereograph cards. Rowles Steoregraph Photographs Grant Rowles, an amateur photographer and collector, amassed an impressive collection of 389 stereograph photographs acquired by the museum. This collection of vintage albumen prints of Louisiana date from mid nineteenth century to the early twentieth century. Many of the well known photographers of the day including Samuel T. Blessing, George Francois Mugnier and Theodore Lillenthal are well represented. John N. Teunisson As a commercial photographer, John N. Teunisson documented New Orleans at the turn of the century. Four hundred vintage gelatin silver prints by this talented photographer comprise this collection. Chamber of Commerce Commissioned by the Chamber of Commerce in 1917, the photographer Covert created a pictorial record of many of the businesses in the warehouse district of New Orleans. These two hundred workplace photographs document the sales and office workers as well as the culturally diverse laborers in the warehouses. Louisiana Family Collections The museum has numerous collections of photographs that record several generations of Louisiana families. The largest of these collections are the Ogilvy, Levert, Bush and Carroll families. These collections consist of individual and group portrait photographs in a variety of medias ranging from daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, tintypes and albumen prints, many by Louisiana photographers. Robert Tebbs The prominent New York based architectural photographer, Robert Tebbs traveled to Louisiana in 1926. In a series of two hundred prints, Tebbs documented the existing and often decaying conditions of the plantations homes in southern Louisiana. Many of the plantations photographed such as Belle Grove, have not survived over time. The museum has a selection of Tebbs’ vintage prints and original negatives of Louisiana. Frances Benjamin Johnston A collection of signed vintage prints of the famed female photographer, this series represents her work in New Orleans and south Louisiana during the 1930s and 1940s. The photographs are of the French Quarter and Louisiana architecture. Works Progress Administration In 1939, unidentified photographers working with the Works Progress Administration (WPA) created a series of photographs of the French Quarter for the Louisiana Division of the Historic American Building Survey (HABS). Theodore Fonville Winans The Baton Rouge photographer, Fonville Winans traveled the waterways and documented the culture and people of Acadian Louisiana. The Louisiana State Museum recently acquired from his estate a significant collection of Fonville’s art, political and portrait photographs, archival materials relating to his career and his photographic equipment. Joseph Woodson "Pops" Whitesell Born in Indiana, "Pops" Whitesell arrived in New Orleans as a professional photographer shortly after the first World War. Settling in the French Quarter, Whitesell photographed the artists, writers and photographers who were attracted to the historic area in the 1930s and 1940s.. Achille Simon The commercial photographer Achille Simon had a studio in New Orleans during the early twentieth century. Largely a portrait photographer, evidence suggests that Simon was hired by the New Orleans Seaman’s Passport Bureau to take identification pictures of seamen aboard the Muntropic and Munarden. The museum has 23,000 of Simon’s glass plate negatives which encompasses his entire career as a photographer as well as a selection of vintage prints.
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