A Unique Slant of Light: The Bicentennial History of Art in Louisiana - (Page 1)

INTRODUCTION by Michael Sartisky, Ph.D. SIMON GUNNING (b. 1956, Sydney, Australia) Song of the 9th Ward, 2006 Oil on canvas; 48 x 36 in. Collection of Michael Sartisky, Ph.D. ARGUABLY THE MOST TANGIBLE, DURABLE, AND IMPORTANT ARTIFACT PRODUCED AS part of the celebration of the bicentennial of Louisiana statehood in 2012 will be this history of the art of the state, from its founding as a colony in 1699 to the present day. As in so many respects in the evolution of history, the art of a period endures when the transient events, passionate issues, and mutable values and verities of the past have not. The title of this history, A Unique Slant of Light: The Bicentennial History of Art in Louisiana, is chosen to express the idiosyncratic identity of this state and its forms of artistic expression. It is commissioned by the Louisiana Bicentennial Commission chaired by General Russel Honoré. This handsome commemorative hardcover book, featuring nearly three hundred artists, is the leading edge of a three-part project that innovatively weds a traditional print artifact to the newly emerging digital technologies in order to extend its depth and impact. The book itself, with its beautiful reproductions and catalogue of the art and artists, has been converted into a digital version to both enhance its accessibility and searchability, and is also in turn linked to fully articulated entries on each artist and genre in KnowLA: the Digital Encyclopedia of Louisiana History and Culture (www.knowla.org), the most recent project of the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities (LEH). The KnowLA entries include a full biography of each selected artist and a much more elaborated image gallery of their work, bibliography, and educational resources than this book can accommodate. As a digital artifact, the book will be searchable on the Web and the KnowLA entries will further be linked to scores of feature articles on the artists published in Louisiana Cultural Vistas magazine (www.leh.org/html/lcv.html), the quarterly arts and culture publication of the LEH, which itself also is digitized and accessible on the Web. A truly collective and collaborative effort, these entries are authored by dozens of notable scholars, and the images have been contributed by private collections along with major museums and archives, including, among others, The Ogden Museum of Southern Art, The Historic New Orleans Collection, the Louisiana State Museum, the LSU Museum of Art, the Meadows Museum at Centenary College of Louisiana, The Norton Gallery of Art, and the New Orleans Museum of Art. The ambition and underlying concept of A Unique Slant of Light: The Bicentennial History of Art in Louisiana is first and foremost to document, feature, and validate the broadest conceivable range of art and artists whose work merited notice—both renowned and obscure—across the span of Louisiana history. But in order to fully appreciate the art, the scholars and editors have made every effort to contextualize it in the framework of historical events, the artists’ own lives, and the evolving styles and principles of art itself. These are catalogued across four major historical periods and six genres we felt deserved special elaboration. INTRODUCTION 1  http://www.knowla.org http://www.leh.org/html/lcv.html http://www.knowla.org/entry.php?rec=1270

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of A Unique Slant of Light: The Bicentennial History of Art in Louisiana

A Unique Slant of Light: The Bicentennial History of Art in Louisiana

https://www.nxtbook.com/leh/uniqueslant2012/uniqueslant2012
https://www.nxtbookmedia.com