George L. Viavant: Artist of the Hunt

Inspired by the bayous, marshes, and lagoons of southern Louisiana, artist George Louis Viavant (1872-1925) produced exquisite paintings of the birds, fish, and small game that he knew so well from years spent hunting on his family's property just outside of New Orleans. The illustrated biography relates the story of a man whose work won acclaim from hunters both in Louisiana and other parts of the country. He studied under prominent artist and sculptor Achille Perelli and, like Perelli, specialized in nature morte paintings. His meticulous watercolors expertly capture each feather and fin of his subject, which he depicted, after the hunt, hanging from a small cord or string. Here was the bounty of the hunt, as realistic as the bird or fish itself.

Author George E. Jordan has used the Viavant family papers in the holdings of The Historic New Orleans Collection to trace the family's history and to describe Viavant's life as an artist of the hunt. Mr. Jordan also presents an analysis of the artist's works, placing Viavant's paintings in the context of the art world in New Orleans in the early 20th century. The book is illustrated with reproductions of numerous works by Viavant---including paintings by George's daughter Ruby---from the holdings of local museums and private collections.

George E. Jordan is a fine-arts consultant, art historian, and writer. Since the 1960s, Jordan's special interest has been artists from the Americas and Europe who worked in New Orleans from 1780 through the 1980s. Formerly curator of American and Louisiana art at the New Orleans Museum of Art, he also was the art critic for the New Orleans Times-Picayune from 1974 to 1980. Mr. Jordan now resides in Connecticut where he is co-owner of an art gallery and continues to assist collectors, researchers, and museums.