Current Exhibitions
Patricia Whitty, A Pair of Oranges, 2004, oil on linen, 20 x 22 inches. Courtesy of the artist's estate and LeMieux Galleries.
Get Real: Still Life Paintings by Five Louisiana Artists
December 19, 2009 - February 21, 2010
Perhaps by its very difference from the frantic pace of our hyper-connected lives, the venerable still life continues to resonate with us. Inviting us to rest our eyes upon it and enjoy a bit of contemplation, a still life painting features inanimate, usually ordinary, objects imbued with significance and beauty by the hand of the artist.
This exhibition presents recent work spotlighting four notable contemporary Louisiana painters who take a traditional view of this enduring art form: Albino Hinojosa, Ruston; Libby Johnson, Baton Rouge; and Auseklis Ozols, Amy Weiskopf and the late Patricia Whitty, of New Orleans.
Frank Hayden, In Flight, 1985, mahogany. Gift of Michael D. Robinson and Donald J. Boutte.
Selections from the LASM Collection: Frank Hayden
December 12, 2009 - February 21, 2010
Frank Hayden (1934-1988) is one of Louisiana's preeminent sculptors. Although his work has been exhibited extensively, he is best known for his public commissions, many of which may be found in churches, synagogues, and banks throughout Baton Rouge. Major works also may be viewed at Louisiana State University and Southern University and at the Galvez and Riverfront Plazas downtown.
Hayden's sculptures, made of wood, plaster, fiberglass, or stone, reflect deep spiritual and humanistic concerns including fellowship, family, Christian values, war, and civil rights. Although primarily figurative, his sculptural forms are stylized and often abstracted, and their surfaces are sometimes inscribed with words.
François Brochet, Mother and Child, 1960, polychromed wood.
Selections from the LASM Collection: François Brochet
December 19, 2009 - February 28, 2010
François Brochet (French, 1925-2001) is best known for his polychromed, carved wood figures. His father, Henri Brochet, was a well-known painter, writer, and dramatist. At an early age, François was apprenticed to sculptor Fernand Py, under whose tutelage in Auxerre, France, he learned woodcarving, drawing, and polychromy (the art of colorfully painted sculpture, found frequently in medieval European church interiors and religous sculptures).
This display of Brochet's sculptures and lithographs demonstrates the sensitivity and spiritual nature characteristic of his major undertakings. His most ambitious and well-known work is The Massacre of the Innocents, a collection of 20 carved figures, 10 of which are life sized. It garnered critical success when first shown in 1960. All of LASM's holdings by Brochet date from this period, including three polychromed wood sculptures titled Mother and Child.