Caroline Wogan Durieux (January 22, 1896 – November 26, 1989) was an American printmaker, painter, and educator. She was a Professor

Emeritus ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". In some c ...

at both

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as Louisiana State University (LSU), is an American Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louis ...

, where she worked from 1943 to 1964 and at Newcomb College of

Tulane University The Tulane University of Louisiana (commonly referred to as Tulane University) is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by a cohort of medical doctors, it b ...

(1937–1942).

Early life and education

Durieux was born Caroline Spelman Wogan in

New Orleans, Louisiana New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

, on January 22, 1896; into a Creole family. At the age of 4, she began drawing and received art lessons from Mary Williams Butler (1873–1937), who was a local artist and a member of the faculty of art at

Newcomb College H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College was the coordinate women's college of Tulane University, located in New Orleans, in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It was founded by Josephine Louise Newcomb in 1886 in memory of her daughter. Newcomb was the ...

. She worked in watercolor from the age of six and at the age of 12 created a portfolio of ten watercolors depicting New Orleans scenery. Most of these early works are now in

The Historic New Orleans Collection The Historic New Orleans Collection (THNOC) is a museum, research center, and publisher dedicated to the study and preservation of the history and culture of New Orleans and the Gulf South region of the United States. It is located in New Orl ...

. She continued at Newcomb College of Tulane University in the Art School headed by Ellsworth Woodward. From her college days, she was interested in

satire Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of exposin ...

and the use of humor in her imagery. Durieux earned a Bachelor's in Design in 1916 and a Bachelor's in Art Education in 1917, and she pursued graduate studies at the

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is a museum and private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1805, it is the longest continuously operating art museum and art school in the United States. The academy's museum ...

led by Henry Bainbridge McCarter.

Career

Pierre's work led to a job in

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

, which Caroline described as a time of "quiet artistic growth that heightened her sense of color." Caroline Durieux lived in the

French Quarter The French Quarter, also known as the (; ; ), is the oldest neighborhood in the city of New Orleans. After New Orleans () was founded in 1718 by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, the city developed around the ("Old Square" in English), a ...

in the mid-1920s, and was part of a circle of talented and creative individuals featured in a private publication, "Sherwood Anderson and Other Famous Creoles." Her next-door neighbors included author

William Faulkner William Cuthbert Faulkner (; September 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962) was an American writer. He is best known for William Faulkner bibliography, his novels and short stories set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, Mississippi, a stand-in fo ...

and silver designer,

William Spratling William Spratling (September 22, 1900 – August 7, 1967) was an American-born silver designer and artist, best known for his influence on 20th century Mexican silver design. Early life Spratling was born in 1900 in Sonyea, Livingston Count ...

Durieux in Cuba (1920-1926)

On April 19, 1920, she married childhood friend Pierre Durieux at her parents' home at 1226 Louisiana Avenue in

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

. Pierre worked in his family's business importing laces and dress goods from many Latin American countries. In October 1920, the Durieux's moved to

Havana Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center. In late December 1920, Caroline Durieux returned to New Orleans to give birth to the couple's first and only child. She spends the next six months recuperating from postpartum complications at her parents' vacation home in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. When she returned to Cuba she and Pierre lived in the downtime neighborhood of

Vedado Vedado (, ) is a central business district and urban neighborhood in the city of Havana, Cuba. Bordered on the east by Calzada de Infanta and Centro Habana, Cuba, Central Havana, and on the west by the Alemendares River and Miramar, Havana, Mir ...

. She worked briefly in a design firm but spent most of her time creating paintings, drawings and watercolors of her colorful surroundings. She has said color, and most of her work from this period were still lifes, flowers and landscapes. At the request of her housekeeper, she became involved with the native women in the community, helping them devise a rudimentary method of birth control.

Mexico City (1926-1929)

In 1926, her husband Pierre was named chief representative of

General Motors General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. The company is most known for owning and manufacturing f ...

for all of Latin America, but Caroline stayed and worked in Mexico City. She received a letter of introduction to

Diego Rivera Diego Rivera (; December 8, 1886 – November 24, 1957) was a Mexican painter. His large frescoes helped establish the Mexican muralism, mural movement in Mexican art, Mexican and international art. Between 1922 and 1953, Rivera painted mural ...

from Tulane anthropologist,

Frans Blom Frans Blom (9 August 1893 – 23 June 1963) was a Danish explorer and archaeologist. He was most associated with his research of the Maya civilization of Mexico and Central America. Biography Frans Ferdinand Blom was born in Copenhagen, ...

, which helped ease her transition into the local artist community. Durieux not only befriended many of Mexico's leading artists and intellectuals of the day (including Rivera and

Frida Kahlo Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo y Calderón (; 6 July 1907 – 13 July 1954) was a Mexican painter known for her many portraits, self-portraits, and works inspired by the nature and artifacts of Mexico. Inspired by Culture of Mexico, the country' ...

) but flourished under the tutelage of Rivera and Emilio Amero with whom she honed her skills as a painter and printmaker as well as the satirical qualities of her work. In 1929, curator René d'Harnoncourt, organized a solo exhibition of Caroline's oil paintings and drawings at the Sonora News Company in Mexico City." Rivera published an enthusiastic review in the journal Mexican Folkways: "Since she has lived among us, she has developed a close spiritual rapport with the country and simultaneously there has grown in her a painter's mature power of expression. Not only does her painting show the love of nature, exalting the grandeur of the mountains, the beauty of the peasants, and the orderly freedom of our architecture, but she has also seen our mongrel, perverted and deformed bourgeoisie, with the clear eye of a Mexican mountaineer, and yet with all the urbanity, the culture, and the occidental sophistication which are Caroline's". Durieux and Rivera's enduring friendship is perhaps best celebrated in the elegant portrait the Mexican artist painted of his New Orleans comrade in 1929, and which today hangs in the collection of the LSU Museum of Art in Baton Rouge.

New York & Carl Zigrosser (1929-1931)

After 1929, a promotion for Pierre marked an important development in his wife's career; This time they moved to New York City, where Caroline forged a lifelong friendship with art dealer,

Carl Zigrosser Carl Zigrosser (1891–1975) was an art dealer best known for founding and running the New York Weyhe Gallery in the 1920s and 1930s, and as Curator of Prints and Drawings at the Philadelphia Museum of Art between 1940 and 1963. In the 1910s, ...

. Zigrosser championed Durieux's career, first as director of the

Weyhe Gallery Weyhe Gallery, established in 1919 in New York City, is an art gallery specializing in prints. It is now located in Mount Desert, Maine. History Erhard Weyhe (1883–1972) established the Weyhe Gallery in 1919. He also operated a bookstore, the ...

, then as the curator of prints at the

Philadelphia Museum of Art The Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA) is an List of art museums#North America, art museum originally chartered in 1876 for the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. The main museum building was completed in 1928 on Fairmount, a hill located at ...

and including her in his many books. It was Zigrosser who recognized Durieux's talent and eye for satire and encouraged her adoption of lithography as a primary means of artistic expression. In 1931, the Durieuxs again were transferred to Mexico City. Eager to learn more about lithography, Durieux enrolled in the Academy of San Carlos (now known as

National Autonomous University of Mexico The National Autonomous University of Mexico (, UNAM) is a public university, public research university in Mexico. It has several campuses in Mexico City, and many others in various locations across Mexico, as well as a presence in nine countri ...

) to study with

Emilio Amero Emilio Amero (1901 in Ixtlahuaca – 1976 in Norman, Oklahoma) was a Mexican artist, illustrator, muralist, and educator, he was among the leading figures of the Mexican Modern art movement. He was also a member of the first group of murali ...

. In 1934, Durieux experimented with etching, a technique she learned from

Howard Cook Howard Norton Cook (1901–1980) was an American artist, particularly known for his wood engravingsBecker, p.56. and murals. Cook spent much of the 1920s in Europe and returned to live in Taos, New Mexico. Cook first came to Taos, New Mexico in ...

. Caroline wrote to Carl Zigrosser: "All my etchings are harrowing. I think it is because the medium is such a precarious one-the least slip and all is lost. I can't be funny on a copper plate. I feel tragic the moment I think of doing an etching."

Return to New Orleans, Goodwill Ambassador, and ''Mardi Gras'' (1937-1950s)

In 1937, Pierre Durieux was diagnosed with severe

cardiac disease Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is any disease involving the heart or blood vessels. CVDs constitute a class of diseases that includes: coronary artery diseases (e.g. angina, heart attack), heart failure, hypertensive heart disease, rheumatic h ...

. His doctors ordered him to return to the United States, so the couple left Mexico reluctantly and returned to New Orleans. Later that year, Durieux was hired to teach in Newcomb College's art department for the fall term, where she focussed on ensuring that her students could draw before advancing to other classes. In October 1937, Durieux exhibited her etching, ''Hunger'', as a member of the Society of American Etchers (now known as the

Society of American Graphic Artists The Society of American Graphic Artists (SAGA) is a not for profit national fine arts organization serving professional artists in the field of printmaking. SAGA provides its members with exhibition, reviews and networking opportunities in the Ne ...

). The exhibition, hosted at the Marcel Guiot Gallery, featured 50 members and artist. Durieux took on a second job as director of the

Federal Art Project The Federal Art Project (1935–1943) was a New Deal program to fund the visual arts in the United States. Under national director Holger Cahill, it was one of five Federal Project Number One projects sponsored by the Works Progress Administratio ...

(FAP) of the

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; from 1935 to 1939, then known as the Work Projects Administration from 1939 to 1943) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to car ...

in February 1939. In a state where

racial segregation Racial segregation is the separation of people into race (human classification), racial or other Ethnicity, ethnic groups in daily life. Segregation can involve the spatial separation of the races, and mandatory use of different institutions, ...

remained legal until the 1960s, Caroline's Louisiana division of the FAP was the only project not to practice discrimination. Caroline always expressed great pride in that accomplishment: "I had a feeling that an artist is an artist and it doesn't make any difference what color he or she is." Robert Armstrong Andrews, associate director of the national office, praised Durieux's work: "It is my observation that the people in Louisiana have more concern with the potentialities of the Negro and less for his limitations than the people of any other state." In August 1940, President Franklin D. Roosevelt named

Nelson A. Rockefeller Nelson Aldrich "Rocky" Rockefeller (July 8, 1908 – January 26, 1979) was the 41st vice president of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977 under President Gerald Ford. He was also the 49th governor of New York, serving from 1959 to 197 ...

to head the

Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs The Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs, later known as the Office for Inter-American Affairs, was a United States agency promoting inter-American cooperation (Pan-Americanism) during the 1940s, especially in commercial and econ ...

(CIAA), a new federal agency whose main objective was to strengthen cultural and commercial relations between the U.S and Latin America, in particular

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

, in order to route

Axis An axis (: axes) may refer to: Mathematics *A specific line (often a directed line) that plays an important role in some contexts. In particular: ** Coordinate axis of a coordinate system *** ''x''-axis, ''y''-axis, ''z''-axis, common names ...

influence and secure hemispheric solidarity. Rockefeller appointed Caroline Durieux to accompany an exhibition from the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

Montevideo Montevideo (, ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2023 census, the city proper has a population of 1,302,954 (about 37.2% of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

and

Rio Rio or Río is the Portuguese and Spanish word for "river". The word also exists in Italian, but is largely obsolete and used in a poetical or literary context to mean "stream". Rio, RIO or Río may also refer to: Places United States * Rio, Fl ...

. Having spent so much of her career in Cuba and Mexico, Durieux had the language skills and political connections necessary to understand the sensitivities of the target audience. She relayed her concerns back to DC that the promotional poster was too US-centric to be embraced widely, and that the accompanying catalog was “confusing” because works not being exhibited in a given city were illustrated prominently in the all-inclusive book. From 1943 to 1964, she taught in the art department at

. In 1948, Caroline Durieux collaborated with John McCrady and Ralph Wickiser on the book ''Mardi Gras Day'', published by Henry Holt. Each artist contributed 10 artworks as illustrations for the book. Notably, the ten lithographs that Durieux contributed for this book are seen as less satirical than the rest of her work— When asked about this, Durieux claimed that Mardi Gras was inherently self-satirical and therefore she decided to present it as is. Durieux was a fixture at the Mardi Gras Day open house hosted by Lyle Saxon in the St. Charles Hotel. Dressing in costume was a requisite for admission to the party and some of Durieux's images for the book were of attendees. In the 1950s, Durieux experimented in printmaking; working on perfecting her electron printmaking technique (with radioactive ink) and she produced the first color

cliché verre A cliché ( or ; ) is a saying, idea, or element of an artistic work that has become overused to the point of losing its original meaning, novelty, or figurative or artistic power, even to the point of now being bland or uninteresting. In phrase ...

prints. In 1976, Caroline Durieux was the first living artist to be honored with a retrospective of her work at The Historic New Orleans Collection. In 1980, she was awarded the

Women's Caucus for Art Lifetime Achievement Award The Women's Caucus for Art Lifetime Achievement Award was established under the presidency of Lee Ann Miller (1978–80). Joan Mondale, artist and wife of vice-president Walter Mondale, helped to secure approval for a national award honoring women ...

Foreign Ateliers (early 1950s)

In the early fifties, Caroline took a sabbatical from her Louisiana State University job to study color lithography in Paris. During her leave, she traveled throughout Europe to France, Italy, Spain and England, but eventually went to study at the

atelier An atelier () is the private workshop or studio of a professional artist in the fine or decorative arts or an architect, where a principal master and a number of assistants, students, and apprentices can work together producing fine art or vi ...

(studio) of Edmund Desjobert (d. 1964) and Son in Paris. At first Durieux had difficulty at the workshop because of her gender: Not only did the director of the workshop notice Durieux's talent but also they were impressed with her ability to speak their language: "Since I speak French they taught me all kinds of little tricks that they wouldn't tell the other Americans in the group because they didn't like them since they didn't speak French." She studied with Desjobert for three months in 1952 and again in 1957. In this new medium of color lithography her work became increasingly abstract, and her satire more subtle and complex . Durieux's color lithographs are more thought-provoking and less whimsical. She said of her work at this time: "I wanted to be more emphatic, more essential. I gradually realized that what you LEAVE OUT is important." Durieux's interest in death is evident in the sober and minimalist work: Insomnie (1957) (figure 121). The artist depicts a night time scene of a hilly cemetery which is filled to capacity with white crosses. A green area with white outlines marks each plot. Even in death, a lone skeleton cannot relax and sits awake gazing at the sky thick with stars. The idea came to Durieux when she saw an American military cemetery while riding a bus in southern Italy; she thought that everyone was asleep; "then it occurred to me that maybe one of them wasn't." Deep South by Caroline Durieux 1957

Durieux had a keen interest in the political climate at home and abroad. Activities of the Ku Klux Klan disturbed the artist as it did many other southerners; Deep South (1957) (figure 130) is a "take-off' on the KKK15 with its hooded figures and numerous fallen crosses and their ashes. Durieux's choice of colors, red, white, blue and yellow is also ironic in its intent. Red, white and blue imply patriotism—an emotion which members of the Klan try to evoke their members. Durieux's inclusion of yellow adds a subtle dimension to the lithograph since the color is traditionally associated with cowardice. Durieux's three trips to Paris were not all spent in the atelier of Desjobert. She also worked on color etching at Lacouriere-Frelaut which was founded in 1929. She worked with Roger Lacouriere—an engraver and printmaker whom

Stanley William Hayter Stanley William Hayter (27 December 1901 – 4 May 1988) was an English painter and master printmaker associated in the 1930s with surrealism and from 1940 onward with abstract expressionism. Regarded as one of the most significant printmakers ...

called "the most highly skilled artisans of color printing."

Electron Printmaking (1950s)

In 1951, Durieux began experimenting with ink-coated microbes with the help of student Natalie Wheeler and her husband, LSU botanist Harry Wheeler. In 1952, Durieux created the first electron print using radioactive ink. In his book ''The Appeal of Prints'', Zigrosser hailed the technique as an advance in printmaking. By 1954 Caroline introduced color into the electron printing process, with the assistance of friends on LSU’s Chemistry faculty, Dr. Olen Nance and Dr. John F. Christman. By 1957, Durieux applied for a patent on electron printing. That same year, she and Dr. Christman revived the 19th century technique

by using photographic paper in lieu of glass; Ultimately they devised a way to print color cliche verres using the new technique. The new techniques were slow to be adopted because many were reluctant to work with the low level of

radiation In physics, radiation is the emission or transmission of energy in the form of waves or particles through space or a material medium. This includes: * ''electromagnetic radiation'' consisting of photons, such as radio waves, microwaves, infr ...

present; However, Durieux's experimental work was well received by critics and museums alike.

Teaching and Mentoring

Caroline Durieux was a gifted teacher and devoted mentor for her students first at Newcomb College of Tulane University in New Orleans and then at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. In 1964 she retired as Professor Emeritus, but continued seeing and mentoring students at her home near campus until her stroke in 1980. Among her students are five that should be noted: *

George Dureau George Valentine Dureau (December 28, 1930 – April 7, 2014) was an American artist whose long career was most notable for charcoal sketches and black and white photography of poor white and black athletes, dwarfs, and amputees. Robert Mappletho ...

(1930–2014) was a photographer and painter who specialized in black-and-white nude photography of poor athletes, dwarfs and amputees many of whom were black. His photographs appeared before Robert Mapplethorpe became famous for his nude portraits; It is thought that Dureau's work inspired Mapplethorpe. Right-wing extremists' attacks on a Mapplethorpe exhibition helped elevate his profile. In contrast, the conservative high society mavens in New Orleans seemed to accept hanging Dureau's photographs of nude black men alongside their Audubons. *

Robert Gordy Robert Louis Gordy (July 15, 1931 – October 21, 2022) was an American songwriter, Music publisher (popular music), music publishing executive, and recording artist under the stage name Bob Kayli. He released the minor hit song "Everyone Was T ...

(1933–1986) is considered one of the most original and creative Southern painters of the twentieth century. He was known for his complex acrylic paintings that featured patterning and repetition, and linear shapes in a flat pictorial space in closely-keyed colors. A painter and printmaker, Gordy created a superb series of monotypes at the end of his life. * Aris Koutroulis (1938–2013) grew up during World War II in Greece, surviving bombings and starvation that informed his artistic career. At

Wayne State University Wayne State University (WSU) is a public university, public research university in Detroit, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1868, Wayne State consists of 13 schools and colleges offering approximately 375 programs. It is Michigan's third-l ...

, he was a cornerstone of the Printmaking Department where challenged his student's ideas of what art was, while allowing them to question their own personal art-making processes. In a Smithsonian oral history, Koutroulis stated: * Elmore Morgan, Jr. (1931–2008) was a painter of the southwest Louisiana prairie in the en plein air tradition, creating a monumental collection of iconic works that capture the vivid palette of that broad landscape under spacious skies. Morgan was also an accomplished photographer. From 1965 to 1998, Morgan taught painting and drawing at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette where he deeply influenced many contemporary Louisiana painters who studied or taught with him. Morgan was a student of Durieux's; later in his life, he began collecting her lithographs. * Jesselyn Benson Zurik (1916–2012) created paintings, sculptures, and drawings throughout her life and exhibited them worldwide. She excelled in creating assemblages steeped in architectural and industrial patterns. She earned her Design degree from Sophie Newcomb College of Tulane University in 1938 where she studied with Caroline Durieux. She was a devotee of lifelong education and was generous in supporting artists, especially in the 1997 establishment of the Jesselyn Zurik Fund for Research at her alma mater, Newcomb College.

Death and legacy

Durieux died on November 26, 1989, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Her papers are held at Louisiana State University and the

Archives of American Art The Archives of American Art is the largest collection of primary resources documenting the history of the visual arts in the United States. More than 20 million items of original material are housed in the Archives' research centers in Washing ...

. In 2010, a retrospective, "Caroline Durieux: A Radioactive Wit", was exhibited at the LSU Museum of Art. In 2018, she was profiled in a short film on New Orleans public TV, WYES, as part of the station's "Tricentennial Moments" campaign honoring the city. Also in 2018, the Hermes Mardi Gras parade superkrewe included a float titled ''Caroline Durieux'' that was inspired by Swine Maskers, one of the titular artist's lithographs from the book ''Mardi Gras Day''. The largest collections of Durieux works may be seen in the following museums;

the Philadelphia Museum of Art ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

the Historic New Orleans Collection The Historic New Orleans Collection (THNOC) is a museum, research center, and publisher dedicated to the study and preservation of the history and culture of New Orleans and the Gulf South region of the United States. It is located in New Orl ...

Louisiana State Museum The Louisiana State Museum (LSM), founded in New Orleans in 1906, is a statewide system of National Historic Landmarks and modern structures across Louisiana, housing thousands of artifacts and works of art reflecting Louisiana's legacy of histori ...

, the

Ogden Museum of Southern Art The Ogden Museum of Southern Art is a museum dedicated to art by artists from the southern United States in New Orleans, Louisiana. It was established in 1999. The building The Ogden museum is located in the Warehouse Arts District of downtown ...

, LSU Museum of Art,

Louisiana Art and Science Museum Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25th i ...

, and the

Meridian Museum of Art Meridian Museum of Art is an art museum located at 628 25th Avenue, Meridian, Mississippi. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979 and declared a Mississippi Landmark in 1985. The building originally served as ...

Personal Life & Views

Spirituality and religion

Durieux was born into a mixed-religious marriage at a time when that was taken more seriously than it is today. The Wogan family was Roman Catholic; the Spelmans were Episcopalian. Caroline often referred to her father, Nicholas, as if he were officially excommunicated from the Catholic Church because of his marriage to her mother. On Sundays Caroline would be taken to protestant services with her mother only to be whisked off to the "bells and smells" of the Catholic Cathedral's High Mass. Religion is the central theme in ''Benediction, Priests, Acolytes, Church Interior, Death Masker, First Communion (2), Idle Angels, Insomne, Lot's Wife, Lady Godiva,'' ''Annunciation, On the Levee, Easter Egg, Iron Sharpeneth Iron,'' A Cult Leader Exhorts His Flock, Mother Carre and others.

Artist’s Statement

"I cannot remember a time when I did not have a pencil in hand trying to put down on a slate, on wrapping paper or even on the woodwork visual ideas concerning my environment… To me art is not work. It is fun. If I happen to give a measure of enjoyment to others as I entertain myself, so much the better. If not, well ... that's just too bad!"

Bibliography

* * * Caroline Durieux and her Art Conquer Washington, A review of the artist's exhibition at the June 1 Gallery in Washington, DC, July 1979 June 1 Jottings

References

External links

* Video
Caroline Durieux, Tricentennial Moment
(2018) by

WYES-TV WYES-TV (channel 12) is a PBS member television station in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, owned by the Greater New Orleans Educational Television Foundation. The station's studios are located on Navarre Avenue in the city's Navarre neig ...

(PBS) * Salzer, Adele Ramos, Caroline Durieux Interview, Friends of the Cabildo Oral History Program, Louisiana State Museum (1976) {{DEFAULTSORT:Durieux, Caroline 1896 births 1989 deaths Artists from New Orleans Louisiana State University faculty H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College alumni Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts alumni 20th-century American women artists American women printmakers 20th-century American printmakers Women lithographers American women academics Louisiana Creole people 20th-century American lithographers National Autonomous University of Mexico alumni