Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Spring 2009 - (Page 33) began to create her own work in 1939. Her paintings were often small, usually no larger than 18 by 24 inches. Her subject was the daily life on Melrose Plantation. Hunter utilized all sorts of discarded items as canvases, including bottles, cardboard and gourds. She became the first AfricanAmerican artist to have a solo exhibition at the New Orleans Museum of Art and was invited to the White House by President Jimmy Carter. “These Clementine Hunters are a piece of Louisiana heritage. For posterity I have to place them in safe hands before I pass away,” Fortino, age 75, says. “And what better place can you think of than the Ogden Museum of Southern Art?” Paintings, Mixed Media and Ceramics While the core of the recent acquisitions in the exhibition consists of paintings — including work by Shawn Hall, Jacqueline Humphries, Hunt Slonem and Errol Barron — other media is represented: Robert Rauschenberg’s pigmented ink-jet print Lotus Bed II; Steve Teeters’ multi-media assemblages; Steve Kline’s massive wooden sculpture Running Shadows, Flow Encircled Bits, (which was first displayed at the Louisiana World’s Fair in 1984 and is now located in the museum’s atrium); and ceramic figurines of animals and people by Walter Anderson. All exemplify the diversity of Southern art. Some of the gifts, such as the striking 8 Katrina Portraits by David Bates, were bestowed by the artist, while others, including the Anderson figurines, which were given by Lyn and John Fischbach, are gifts from donors. Swift Blues by Jack Stewart Other important recent acquisitions include paintings and related materials created by the late Jack Stewart, whose works are on exhibit at the Ogden through April 15. His wife, Regina Stewart, who also has a piece in the Ogden Past, Present and Future exhibition, donated some of the works. All of this art is complementary to the initial donation to the museum of 1,200 pieces by local businessman and philanthropist Roger Houston Ogden. This collection includes works from the 18th through 20th centuries with artists such as Alexander John Drysdale, Julian Onderdonk, John Drayton, Robert Gordy, Linda Benglis, Ida Kohlmeyer, Ernest J. Bellocq, William Eggleston, among many other distinguished artists from the South or whom have worked in the region. Blue Carved Bowl Side by Cynthia Bringle Spring 2009/LOUISIANA CULTURAL VISTAS 33
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