Updating the Portrait Gallery
By Courtney Taylor
LSU Museum of Art’s permanent collection exhibition, Art in Louisiana, is updated regularly to rotate works from collections storage, display new acquisitions, and share different perspectives. This month we focused on updating a section of our portrait gallery, which showcases British and American portraits from the 17th century to the 20th century. The wall featuring 20th-century portraits now features portraits painted in the 1930s, 1960s and 1980s that are far more expressionistic than portraits from earlier centuries in the gallery.
George Dureau (American, 1930–2014), Dexter Edwards, c. 1989, oil on canvas, Gift of Don Dureau, LSUMOA L2017.15.4
Janice Sachse (American, 1908–1998), Sommer Sisters/Portrait of Two Young Girls, 1968, oil on canvas, Gift of Ms. Sue Sommer on behalf of Sommer Family, LSUMOA 2012.7
Knute Heldner (American, born Sweden, 1877–1952), Colette on the Balcony, c. 1930, oil on canvas, Gift of Dr. Mary Lynn Johnson Grant, LSUMOA 2005.1
Everyone’s favorite portrait of early LSU School of Art professor Caroline Durieux by Diego Rivera is still on view, but we’ve pulled a portrait of Colette Pope by Knute Heldner from storage, a portrait of two women by Baton Rouge artist Janice Sachse, and a large, recently-acquired portrait painting by George Dureau of Dexter Edwards. These new additions have already been a hit with our K–12 visitors with the ArtWorks program who created contour drawings based on these new works and other portraits on display.
Courtney Taylor is LSU MOA’s curator.