George Valentine Dureau (US/Louisiana, 1930-2014)

George Valentine Dureau
(American/Louisiana, 1930-2014)

"Invitation to St. Francisville", 1980

oil and crayon on canvas triptych
signed on the far right panel, lower left.
Unframed.
each panel 75" x 96"

Provenance: The Pan American Life Center Art Collection, 601 Poydras Street, New Orleans, Louisiana.

Literature: Gregory Roberts, "Art in High Places: Corporate New Orleans Bids Farewell to the Framed Duck Print", Times-Picayune, 27 Nov. 1983, D11; Roger Green, "Pan American Life Gives Big Boost to La Artists", Times-Picayune, 10 Dec. 1980, 3D.

Notes: In 1980, the Pan American Life Insurance Company commissioned the Chicago-based architecture firm Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (SOM) to design its $60 million building at 601 Poydras Street. The company's vision was to incorporate public art spaces into corporate working places, creating a lifeline between the people of Louisiana and its rich cultural heritage. Under the collective guidance of NOMA, the Contemporary Arts Center and Galerie Simonne Stern, SOM's interior designers - Judy Ridge and Patrick McConnell - purchased more than 200 pieces, including works by Kohlmeyer, Emery, Dunbar, Gordy and Tannen. After seeing a smaller landscape by Dureau in a Chicago catalogue, the interior designers were so impressed that they approached the artist, asking if he could produce an impressionistic large-scale landscape representative of Louisiana. Dureau chose three elements rendered in three panels - blue skies, verdant trees and a sandy clearing, and called it an "Invitation to St. Francisville". At a public opening in the building in 1983, Dureau stated that it was "one of his favorite paintings" - "I get totally passionate over landscapes. Nobody gets angry when I love the trees so much."
Condition Report: **Light surface dirt; no signs of past restorations; surface marks and imperfections appear to be hand of the artist; small brown accretions on left panel in center (sky). Not framed but edges painted by artist.