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George RodrigueBlue Dog1995
1995
About the Item
Blue Dog by George Rodrigue, 1995, oil or acrylic on canvas, 14x11 unframed, offered framed. (#95101)
A stunning original Blue Dog in a painted blue gloss hand carved wooden and gesso frame from Rodrigue's personal framer. This piece is the quintessential Blue Dog, among the first to depart from the Cajun backgrounds that defined the early Blue Dogs, this piece is truly elemental and places the focus of the work where it should be, on the iconic Blue Dog.
This piece truly captures the iconic Blue Dog at the height of Rodrigue's career. Each brushstroke is visable against the field of painted white, the mystery and allure in the eyes of the Blue Dog on full display. Rodrigue once stated, “deep in Blue Dog’s eyes will always lurk the hopes and longings of a melancholy people, but, like the Cajuns, who always trained their eyes on the future, Blue Dog must move forward.”
Rodrigue distinguished himself in that his iconic image is not derived from popular culture but rather is personal and rooted in a theme that he explored in hundreds of works early in his career; his Cajun heritage. The creation of Blue Dog can easily be viewed as a natural progression in his works which featured aspects of Cajun life and culture.
Rodrigue chose to paint the loup-garou who, according to legend, is a cursed human who transforms into a werewolf under the full moon. A French and Cajun version of the bogeyman myth; it was a story familiar to Rodrigue who remembered how early in his childhood his mother would tell him if he was not good during the day then the loup-garou would come and get him that night.
As was often his practice to use photographs as foundations for his paintings, Rodrigue began looking through his pictures to find an image he could use as inspiration for this loup-garou painting. What he found was a photograph of his deceased studio dog, Tiffany, from which he used her shape and characteristic stance as a rough outline for his interpretation of the loup-garou.
Ultimately, before his death in 2013, Rodrigue saw his pop art creation move beyond popular acclaim and garner critical recognition in several retrospective exhibitions. In showings at the New Orleans Museum of Art, the Acadiana Center for the Arts the LSU Museum of Art and others, scholars examined Rodrigue’s entire oeuvre in one space for the first time by displaying nearly one-hundred original works in each show that traced the evolution of the artist from his oak trees to Cajuns to loup-garou and to Blue Dogs. As time progresses and other institutions more closely study Rodrigue, there will be an even greater understanding of the artist’s work, his visual evolution from the Cajun legend to pop art icon and the story’s unique place in the history of twentieth and twenty-first century art.
The artist said of the Blue Dog: "The Blue Dog appeared in my life as a happy accident. For 25 years I paired the Cajun culture with hopes of capturing parts of Louisiana that seemed to be disappearing.
One of the stories my mother told me as a child was that if I was not good today, the Loup-Garou would come get me tonight. This mad, wolflike creature that resembled a dog was a Cajun fable brought over from France by the early settlers of Acadiana. In 1984 I painted the first version of this story in oil paint until the public began calling it “the blue dog” during an exhibition of my work in Los Angeles in 1988.
As a Blue Dog the image became very different- bluer, more stylized, and contained with more colorful and varied surroundings. In 1990 I abandoned the Cajun works and started painting Blue Dogs full time."
- Creator:George Rodrigue (1944 - 2013, American)
- Creation Year:1995
- Dimensions:Height: 14 in (35.56 cm)Width: 11 in (27.94 cm)
- More Editions & Sizes:Original Price: $79,999
- Medium:
- Period:
- Condition:Piece presents in very good condition.
- Gallery Location:Metairie, LA
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU2676213464942
George Rodrigue
From New Iberia, Louisiana, George Rodrigue is known for his Blue Dog series, inspired by his long-deceased childhood pet, Tiffany, whom he posed with other animals and people for his popular paintings and prints.
Rodrigue had early art talent, and while ill for nearly a year, he used watercolors and crayons to pass the time, and this activity set his future. He studied at the University of Southwestern Louisiana and in Los Angeles at the Art Center College of Design. For a while, Rodrigue painted Abstract Expressionist works but then went back to creating paintings that reflected his own Cajun culture, including folk tales and bayou and swamp landscapes.
Gradually a black and white spaniel, based on his childhood companion, Tiffany, increasingly appeared in Rodgrigue's paintings and became the Blue Dog, now a compelling and humorous Pop figure in his original works and silkscreen reproductions. In 2000, representatives of the Xerox corporation commissioned Rodrigue with a multi-million dollar contract to do a series of Blue Dog paintings to promote their printers.
Rodrigue was also the artist for the Absolut Vodka ads and created the artwork for three New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival posters. The 1995 poster, with the portrait of Louis Armstrong, as well as the one created in 1996 that featured Pete Fountain, have become collector's items.
Rodrigue and his wife, Wendy, created the House of Blues Foundation Room to support arts and cultural programs for youth. Money is raised through the sale of his paintings. A George Rodrigue museum is in Lafayette, Louisiana.
Find original George Rodrigue posters and Blue Dog paintings on 1stDibs.
(Biography provided by Louisiana Art, LLC)
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