Caroline Durieux

Caroline Wogan Durieux (January 22, 1896 – November 26, 1989) was an American printmaker, painter, and educator. She was a Professor Emeritus of Fine Arts at Louisiana State University, where she worked from 1943 to 1964.

Early life and education[]

She was born Caroline Spellman Wogan in New Orleans, Louisiana, on January 22, 1896; into a Creole family.^[1] At the age of 4, she began drawing and received art lessons from Mary Williams Butler (1873–1937), she was a local artist and a member of the faculty of art at Newcomb College at Tulane University.^[2] She worked in watercolor from the age of six and in 1908 created a portfolio of watercolors depicting New Orleans scenery. Most of these early works are now in The Historic New Orleans Collection.

She continued at Newcomb College of Tulane University in the Art School headed by Ellsworth Woodward. From her college days she was interested in satire and the use of humor in her imagery. Durieux earned a Bachelor's in Design in 1916 and a Bachelor's in Art Education in 1917, and she pursued graduate studies at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts led by Henry Bainbridge McCarter.

She returned to Louisiana after graduate school and in April 1920 married Pierre Durieux (1889–1949). Pierre worked in his family's business importing laces and dress goods from many Latin American countries.

Career[]

Pierre's work led to a job in Cuba which Caroline described as a time of "quiet artistic growth that heightened her sense of color." Caroline Durieux lived in the French Quarter in the mid-1920s, and was part of a circle of talented and creative individuals featured in a private publication, "Sherwood Anderson and Other Famous Creoles." Her next-door neighbors included author, William Faulkner, and silver designer, William Spratling.

Mexico City[]

In 1926, her husband Pierre was named chief representative of General Motors for all of Latin America, but Caroline stayed and worked in Mexico City. She received a letter of introduction to Diego Rivera from Tulane anthropologist, Franz Blom, which helped ease her transition into the local artist community. In 1929, curator Rene d'Harnoncourt, organized a solo exhibition of Caroline's oil paintings and drawings at the Sonora News Company. Rivera wrote a favorable review of his friend's exhibition, and then chose the occasion to paint her portrait.

Again, a promotion for Pierre marked an important development in his wife's career. This time they moved to New York City, where Caroline forged a lifelong friendship with art dealer, Carl Zigrosser. Zigrosser championed Durieux's career, first as director of the prestigious Weyhe Gallery, then as the curator of prints at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and including her in his many books. It was Zigrosser who recognized Durieux's talent and eye for satire and encouraged her adoption of lithography as a primary means of artistic expression.

In 1931, the Durieuxs again were transferred to Mexico City. Eager to learn more about lithography, Durieux enrolled in the Academy of San Carlos (now known as National Autonomous University of Mexico) to study with Emilio Amero. In 1934, Durieux experimented with etching, a technique she learned from Howard Cook. Caroline wrote to Carl Zigrosser: "All my etchings are harrowing. I think it is because the medium is such a precarious one-the least slip and all is lost. I can't be funny on a copper plate. I feel tragic the moment I think of doing an etching."^{[citation needed]}

Back to New Orleans[]

In 1937, Pierre Durieux was diagnosed with severe cardiac disease. His doctors ordered him to return to the United States, so the couple left Mexico reluctantly and returned to New Orleans. Later that year, Durieux was hired to teach in Newcomb College's art department for the fall term, where she placed particular importance on ensuring that her students could draw before advancing to other classes.

October 1937, Durieux exhibited her etching, Hunger, as a member of the Society of American Etchers (now known as the Society of American Graphic Artists). The exhibition, hosted at the Marcel Guiot Gallery, featured 50 members and artist.

Durieux took on a second job as director of the Federal Art Project (FAP) of the Works Progress Administration in February 1939. In a state where racial segregation remained legal until the 1960s, Caroline's Louisiana division of the FAP was the only project not to practice discrimination. Caroline always expressed great pride in that accomplishment: "I had a feeling that an artist is an artist and it doesn't make any difference what color he or she is." Robert Armstrong Andrews, associate director of the national office, praised Durieux's work: "It is my observation that the people in Louisiana have more concern with the potentialities of the Negro and less for his limitations than the people of any other state.”^[3]

From 1943 to 1964, she taught in the art department at Louisiana State University.^[4]

In the 1950s, Durieux experimented in printmaking; working on perfecting her electron printmaking technique (with radioactive ink) and she produced the first color cliché verre prints.^[5]

In 1980, she was awarded the Women's Caucus for Art Lifetime Achievement Award.^[6]

Death and legacy[]

Durieux died on November 26, 1989 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.^[7] Her papers are held at Louisiana State University^[8] and the Archives of American Art.^[9]

In 2010, a retrospective, "Caroline Durieux: A Radioactive Wit", was exhibited at the LSU Museum of Art.^[10] In 2018 she was profiled in a short film on New Orleans public TV, WYES, as part of the station's "Tricentennial Moments" campaign honoring the city.

Bibliography[]

• Cox, Richard; Durieux, Caroline (1977). Caroline Durieux: Lithographs of the Thirties and Forties. Baton Rouge, Louisiana: Louisiana State University (LSU) Press. ISBN 9780807103722.
• Durieux, Caroline (2008). From Society to Socialism: The Art of Caroline Durieux, March 26-June 15, 2008, Newcomb Art Gallery, Tulane University (exhibition). Newcomb Art Gallery. Newcomb Art Gallery, Tulane University. ISBN 9780966859560.

References[]

Further reading[]

• Zigrosser, Carl (1942). The Artist in America: Twenty-Four Close-ups of Contemporary Printmakers. New York City, New York: A. A. Knopf.
• Tucker, Susan; Willinger, Beth (2012). "Chapter 16". Newcomb College, 1886-2006: Higher Education for Women in New Orleans. Louisiana State University (LSU) Press. p. 344. ISBN 9780807143360.

External links[]

• Video: Caroline Durieux, Tricentennial Moment (2018) by WYES-TV (PBS)