George Dureau, The Photographs - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1597112844 ISBN 13: 9781597112840

Publisher: Aperture, 2016

Synopsis

George Dureau, The Photographs is an album of the great photographic portraits made throughout the 40 years of Dureau's artistic career—a New Orleans romance between the photographer and his subjects. All of Dureau's exquisite photographs, many of them nudes of black and disabled men, were made in his studio in the French Quarter of New Orleans, or on the city's streets. He began photography for the pleasure of photographing his lovers, and as research material for his paintings. Only later on did he begin to take his photographs seriously as works of art in their own right. Many of his subjects became part of Dureau's extended family, whom he photographed on different occasions over many years. Surprisingly, only one book of Dureau's photographs has been published, New Orleans (1985), a modest paperback long out of print. This Aperture book is possible now because of the commitment of Dureau's supporters.

About this title

From the Back Cover

This album of photographic portraits by New Orleans artist George Dureau (1930-2014), charts his forty-year romance with the male figure as subject. Dureau’s photographs of men are described by Philip Gefter in his introductions as clear-eyed, humble, and sincere; whether clothed or nude, they appear natural and unself-conscious before his camera. He portrayed his models, many of whom were black, disabled, or both, with a tender regard—his gaze steady and tinged with a playful eroticism—their poses evoking classical figures of allegory and myth. Well-known among his contemporaries, and famously influencing the work of Robert Mapplethorpe, this is the first collection of his photographs to be published since 1985.
Philip Gefter is the author of Wagstaff: Before and After Mapplethorpe (2014), and the essay collection Photography After Frank (Aperture, 2009).

About the Author

George Bureau was educated at Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge (1946–52) and attended the School of Architecture, Tulane University, New Orleans (1952). His paintings, drawings, sculptures, and photographs have been exhibited widely since the mid-1960s, including at the Isaac Delgado Museum of Art, New Orleans (1965); Contemporary Arts Center, New Orleans (1977); Osuna Gallery, Washington, D.C. (1979); Photographers’ Gallery, London (1983); 291 Gallery, Atlanta (1985); Jamison-Thomas Gallery, Portland, Oregon (1987); Fahey/Klein Gallery, Los Angeles (1991); Galerie Callu Mérite, Paris (1997); and Higher Pictures, New York (2012, 2015), as well as multiple exhibitions of both photography and painting at Arthur Roger Gallery, New Orleans, since 1988. His photographs have been featured in many major group exhibitions, including New Southern Photographs, Burden Gallery, Aperture Foundation, New York (1989); The Nude, New Orleans Museum of Art (1998); and, most recently, Reconfigure: Transformations of the Body, Acadiana Center for the Arts, Lafayette, Louisiana (2012). Dureau’s career has been the subject of retrospectives at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art, New Orleans (2006, 2011), and the New Orleans Museum of Art (2009). Prior to George Dureau, The Photographs, only one book of Dureau’s photographs had been published: New Orleans (Gay Men’s Press, 1985).

Edition details

• Publisher: Aperture
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 1597112844
• ISBN 13: 9781597112840
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 160