Elemore Morgan Jr. (August 6, 1931 – May 18, 2008) was an American painter, photographer, and educator. He was recognized in the

Southern United States The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, Dixieland, or simply the South) is List of regions of the United States, census regions defined by the United States Cens ...

as a leading contemporary landscape artist. He was a professor of art at University of Louisiana at Lafayette, from 1965 until 1998. His paintings of rice farms in

Vermilion Parish Vermilion Parish () is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana, created in 1844. The parish seat is Abbeville. Vermilion Parish is part of the Lafayette metropolitan statistical area, and located in southern Acadiana. At the 2020 U.S ...

have been widely exhibited, from

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

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Life

Elemore Morgan Jr. was born on August 6, 1931, in

Baton Rouge, Louisiana Baton Rouge ( ; , ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It had a population of 227,470 at the 2020 United States census, making it List of municipalities in Louisiana, Louisiana's second-m ...

, he was an only child, and he was raised on his grandfather's farm. His upbringing shaped his affinity for

nature Nature is an inherent character or constitution, particularly of the Ecosphere (planetary), ecosphere or the universe as a whole. In this general sense nature refers to the Scientific law, laws, elements and phenomenon, phenomena of the physic ...

and the

rural In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry are typically desc ...

life in

Louisiana 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 25 ...

. His father Elemore Morgan Sr. influenced his decision to become an

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating the work of art. The most common usage (in both everyday speech and academic discourse) refers to a practitioner in the visual arts o ...

. His father was a full-time

photographer A photographer (the Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who uses a camera to make photographs. Duties and types of photograp ...

, had also worked and farmed with Louisiana architect A. Hays Town. At

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 ...

and studied art, under the tutelage of Caroline Durieux,

Ralston Crawford Ralston Crawford (1906–1978) was a Canadian-born American painter, lithographer, photographer, and teacher. He is best known for his abstract representations of urban life and industry. He taught at the Cincinnati Art Academy (now Art Academy ...

, and David LeDoux. For two years he served in the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

as a supply officer during the

Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...

. With the help of the

GI Bill The G.I. Bill, formally the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, was a law that provided a range of benefits for some of the returning World War II veterans (commonly referred to as G.I.s). The original G.I. Bill expired in 1956, but the te ...

, Morgan studied art at the

Ruskin School of Art The Ruskin School of Art is the Department of Fine Art at the University of Oxford, England. It is part of Oxford's Humanities Division. History The Ruskin School of Art grew out the Oxford School of Art, which was founded in 1865 and later ...

at the

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. In 1959 he returned to Louisiana, renting a second-floor apartment in Lafayette, one flight up from author John Kennedy Toole. In Lafayette, Morgan began working with longtime friend and architect Neil Nehrbass.

Work

He served as an associate professor from 1965 to 1998 at the

University of Louisiana at Lafayette The University of Louisiana at Lafayette (UL Lafayette, University of Louisiana, ULL, or UL) is a Public university, public research university in Lafayette, Louisiana, United States. It has the largest enrollment within the nine-campus Universi ...

(then named the University of Southwestern Louisiana). Morgan was renowned for his

en plein air ''En plein air'' (; French language, French for 'outdoors'), or plein-air painting, is the act of painting outdoors. This method contrasts with studio painting or academic rules that might create a predetermined look. The theory of 'En plein ai ...

landscape paintings often in the heart of the rice growing region of southwest Louisiana. Many of Morgan’s landscapes were acrylic on oddly shaped Masonite panels, cut to fit his vision of the land, which he felt were integral to the design and composition of his works. Morgan mused that his sense of nature affected his subject: "If you have more nature and less man, it’s going to have a certain effect on you. If you live in the city and you hardly see the sky, you’re going to think different. From growing up on that family farm and getting a real strong dose of nature, I need it to function. I also find that I’m in much better shape mentally if I’m out in nature on a regular basis." Morgan's paintings and drawings were featured in "Where Land Meets Sky," an exhibit at the Paul and Lulu Hilliard University Art Museum, The

. The exhibit combined his works with the poetry of Darrell Bourque. It ran May 28-July 31, 1999. A book published on the exhibit includes an essay by Dr. Steven Bradley. In 2007, Louisiana artist

Brian Guidry Brian Guidry (born 1968 in New Iberia, Louisiana) is an American contemporary painter, and installation artist. Art While Guidry considers himself primarily a painter, he also works in multiple media such as sculpture, environmental installation ...

traveled with Morgan to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

to help facilitate Morgan’s America series. Morgan received the Distinguished Artist award by the Delgado Society, of the

New Orleans Museum of Art The New Orleans Museum of Art (or NOMA) is the oldest art museum, fine arts museum in the city of New Orleans, Louisiana, New Orleans. It is situated within City Park (New Orleans), City Park, a short distance from the intersection of Carrollton ...

(2000); was named in Outstanding Achievement in the Arts award by the Acadiana Arts Council (1990); and Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching award by the

Amoco Amoco ( ) is a brand of filling station, fuel stations operating in the United States and owned by British conglomerate BP since 1998. The Amoco Corporation was an American chemical and petroleum, oil company, founded by Standard Oil Company i ...

Foundation (1984–1985).

Death and legacy

Elemore Morgan died on May 18, 2008, after a complicated heart surgery at the

University of Maryland Medical Center The University of Maryland Medical Center (UMMC) is a teaching hospital with 789 beds based in Baltimore, Maryland, that provides the full range of health care to people throughout Maryland and the Mid-Atlantic region. It gets more than 26,000 inp ...

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

. In 2010, the state of Louisiana declared September 18 as "Elemore Morgan Day".

Publications

Morgan contributed

photography Photography is the visual arts, art, application, and practice of creating images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is empl ...

for a book titled, ''Makers of Cajun Music: Musiciens Cadiens Et Creoles'' (1984), written by

Cajun The Cajuns (; French: ''les Cadjins'' or ''les Cadiens'' ), also known as Louisiana ''Acadians'' (French: ''les Acadiens''), are a Louisiana French ethnicity mainly found in the US state of Louisiana and surrounding Gulf Coast states. Whi ...

folklorist Folklore studies (also known as folkloristics, tradition studies or folk life studies in the UK) is the academic discipline devoted to the study of folklore. This term, along with its synonyms, gained currency in the 1950s to distinguish the ac ...

Barry Jean Ancelet. *

References

External links