Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Winter 2008 - (Page 41)

PINTAIL DRAKE by Clovis Vizier courtesy of an anonymous lender Barataria; or the shores of lakes Pontchartrain, Borgne, or Des Allemands, their purpose was to serve the hunter in the quest for game birds. Each of North America’s four principal migratory flyways (Atlantic, Mississippi, Central, and Pacific) boasts a tradition of waterfowl and game bird carving. The carvers of the Atlantic flyway were the first to garner widespread attention; their decoys were celebrated for their aesthetic qualities in the early years of the 20th century. Similar recognition was long denied Louisiana carvers. Although a few exhibited decoys in out-of-state competitions, the vast majority remained as unknown, outside Louisiana, as the landscape they inhabited. Following the Second World War, a number of independent factors transformed the practice of decoy carving in Southeast Louisiana. New roads, improved telecommunications, and the gradual attrition of nonEnglish-speaking residents combined to make rural communities less isolated. And the introduction of massmanufactured decoys made it impractical for the cottageindustry carver to compete economically. Although some carvers resisted change, others embraced it. One, Robert Couret, invented a duplicating lathe that permitted large- scale manufacture of wooden decoys. Decorated with stenciled markings applied with a spraygun, Couret’s birds were marketed under the brand “Lifelike Lures.” The “opening up” of Southeast Louisiana had the ironic effect of making the area’s carvers better known to a larger audience — national as well as local — even as it diminished the traditional basis for their work. The oil and gas industries brought regular rather than seasonally cyclical employment to the area. Though carvers continued to carve, and to pass the tradition along to succeeding generations of craftsmen, “working birds” were made for personal use or for a select group of clients and friends. In recent decades, the demand for antique decoys — a finite quantity — has run parallel, among collectors, with the demand for decorative birds. Although it is impossible to fix a specific year as a watershed, by 1960 decorative decoys had eclipsed functional decoys across southeast Louisiana. The purpose of a decoy was no longer to attract birds within gunshot range, but to exemplify the artist’s dexterity in carving and painting. Though aesthetic concerns had occasionally motivated members of the older generation of carvers, decorative decoys became the principal form of expression for the younger generation. National and international competitions were soon attracting, and honoring, Louisiana carvers. Among the regional artists to win top awards are Tan Brunet, Jett Brunet, and Jimmie Vizier. HOODED MERGANSER DRAKE by Marc Alcide Comardelle courtesy of an anonymous lender Winter 2008-09/LOUISIANA CULTURAL VISTAS 41

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Winter 2008

Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Winter 2008 Contents Friends Editor's Column Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities Prospect.1 New Orleans The Historic New Orleans Collection The Enduring Performance of Michael P. Smith Jazz Notes Louisiana Foodways Birds of a Feather: Windfowl Carvings in Southeast Louisiana Louisiana Association of Museums Louisiana Architecture O. Winston Link in Louisiana The Ogden Museum of Southern Art The Colfax Massacre Louisiana State Museum Unlocking the History of Greek Key Architecture Bookstand Sound Advice Forum

Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Winter 2008

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