Description:

George Rodrigue
1944-2013
"Today We Saw the Saints"
oil on canvas
1988, signed lower left, signed, titled and dated en verso, inscribed "#69" on stretcher, framed.

Exh.: Upstairs Gallery, 368 N. Rodeo Drive, Beverly Hills, CA, Apr. - May, 1988.

Click to Learn More about this Painting from Wendy Rodrigue
In 1980, a Baton Rouge investment group commissioned George Rodrigue to illustrate a book of Louisiana ghost stories to be sold at the 1984 World's Fair in New Orleans. Authored by Chris Segura and featuring forty ghastly tales, Bayou, published by Inkwell Press the year of the fair, includes images of forty loosely corresponding paintings which took the artist three years to complete and would become known as the Bayou Collection.

In approaching the project, Rodrigue looked, as he was accustomed to doing, close to home for inspiration. He took the opportunity to paint the loup-garou (even though it is never once mentioned in the story) for the chapter "Slaughter House," recalling his mother's version of the legend where the loup-garou was a crazy wolf or ghost dog that prowled cemeteries and sugar cane fields waiting to pounce upon naughty children. Rodrigue followed a pattern of turning to his photo files for visual inspiration, finding snapshots of the family pet, Tiffany, who had passed away a few years prior. Tiffany had been with the Rodrigue family since she was a puppy and was a loyal studio companion to the artist. He had many photographs of her, often at eye-level, and found her strong shape suitable for his purposes.

The resulting painting, "Watchdog," depicts the loup-garou in the foreground on tomb-like stepping stones with blue-grey fur under the night sky, wide yellow eyes with red pupils and a haunted house depicted in a rich, saturated red in the background. In retrospect, one can note that "Watchdog" was a pivotal moment in the artist's career; however, it was not an immediate shift. The image clearly haunted Rodrigue, who at this point had already developed his clear, unique interpretation of the Louisiana landscape and his emblematic depictions of his own Cajun culture. He was drawn to the strong, graphic element of the dog and its anomalous color against the dark oaks. Over the next five years, he painted additional images of the loup-garou as part of his Cajun series, always situated solidly within the bayous of Acadiana and in the vein of the original narrative. As his Cajun paintings continued to receive national and international acclaim, the loup-garous multiplied on his canvases, culminating in 1988 in an exhibition at the Upstairs Gallery at 368 N. Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills of sixty paintings, including around a dozen featuring the loup-garou. This exhibition is where Rodrigue overhead a new phrase from visitors– "Blue Dogs."

As described by Wendy Rodrigue: "George says that his first reaction was ‘Blue Dogs? What are they talking about?' He really had no idea that people looked at his loup-garou in this way. The show was a sell-out – the Cajuns, the Landscapes, and the Blue Dogs (which after this were no longer part of the Cajun paintings, but rather took on a category of their own). George left that show with a lot to think about. He was shocked that it took a California audience to recognize this new, strong phenomenon in his work."

"Today We Saw the Saints" was included in the Upstairs Gallery exhibition in 1988 and bears striking similarity in composition to "Watchdog," with the significant addition of a remarkable, rare self-portrait. The stepping stones, following a similar diagonal pattern, have morphed into fully realized tombstones complete with grave markers. The artist himself, clad in white from head to toe, simultaneously glows against the dark oak and melds into the tombs upon which he stands. While he gazes into the future, the loup-garou confronts the viewer with a direct, red-eyed stare. The rough, wispy fur, oval eyes and deeper blue color present a creature even more wolf-like and otherworldly than the one seen in "Watchdog," as though the loup-garou is now manifesting in its true form, five years later. The third figure, Rodrigue's first wife, directs her eyes toward the artist and provides a stark contrast to the scene with her red outfit and hair, a strong counterpoint to the composition that plays a role similar to the haunted house element in "Watchdog." Color played an important part in Rodrigue's work throughout his oeuvre, with each hue often having both a symbolic and compositional function. Blue and its spiritual qualities in particular would come to define him as a colorist, however his strong background in design was clear from his earliest utilization of shape and color to create timeless scenes.

Tombs and cemeteries were a common subject matter for Rodrigue, as the above-ground cemeteries and "cities of the dead" unique to South Louisiana helped to define the area's culture and landscape. Rodrigue also had a personal connection to the theme, as his father once ran a tomb business. The high-school aged artist would drive his father's van to school, emblazoned on the side with the words "Rodrigue's Portable Concrete Burial Vaults," and he would be sent to sink the "air-tight" tombs in the cemetery when they would float after a heavy rain. The tombs fit perfectly with the legend of the loup-garou, perennially lurking in cemeteries, and perhaps also represent in this canvas the artist's connection to those lost – Tiffany herself, the generations of Cajuns preceding him, and his father, "Big George," who had passed in 1967.

"Today We Saw the Saints" represents an extraordinary moment for George Rodrigue, a paradigm shift just as transformative as "Watchdog." He stands in the canvas as the master of his landscape - honoring his past, his Cajun heritage and his artistic development just as he unknowingly balances on the cusp of a life-altering transition. The loup-garou, perched atop the tomb, foreshadows Rodrigue's journey into the future and the Blue Dog series that will survive the artist himself and stand the test of time as an American art icon.

Ref.: Rodrigue, Wendy. "Blue Dog: In the Beginning, 1984-1989." George Rodrigue Life & Legacy Foundation. Oct. 21, 2009. www.legacyarttour.org. Accessed Dec. 27, 2024; Rodrigue, Wendy. "Tombs in the Life and Art of George Rodrigue." George Rodrigue Life & Legacy Foundation. Oct. 7, 2009. www.legacyarttour.org. Accessed Dec. 27, 2024.

40 x 30 in. (101.6 x 76.2 cm.), Frame: 48 1/2 x 38 1/2 x 1 1/2 in. (123.2 x 97.8 x 3.8 cm.)

  • Condition: No signs of past restoration; toning of the uneven varnish layer; surface dirt; 5 in. scuff/mark lower right under paw; pinpoint paint loss, few minor accretions and light marks throughout; light craquelure pattern visible, particularly at top of tree; frame has marks, nicks and abrasions.

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January 24, 2025 11:00 AM CST
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