Description:

Richard Clague, Jr. (French/Louisiana, 1821-1873), "Street Scene at the Commons", watercolor on paper laid on board, signed lower left, "New Orleans Museum of Art" exhibition label with title on backing, sight 8 3/4 in. x 10 3/4 in., framed with faded artist plaque, overall 21 3/4 in. x 1 9 1/2 in. x 1 in. Provenance: Mrs. Theodore Dennery, New Orleans, LA; thence by descent in the family. Exh.: "Richard Clague Retrospective", New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA, Nov. 17 - Dec. 30, 1974. Note: Born in Paris in 1821, Richard Clague’s childhood and youth was divided between France and New Orleans, the home of his French Creole mother. He established a near permanent studio in the city in 1857 and had focused primarily on landscape painting by the early 1860s. The watercolor offered here is one of only a few surviving examples by the artist and was included in the seminal Richard Clague exhibition at the New Orleans Museum of Art of 1974, alongside a stylistically similar watercolor of “Treme Market” dated 1863. Although “Street Scene at the Commons” is not dated, the works were likely completed around the same time. The exact location portrayed in Clague’s watercolor appears to be the corner of Canal and Treme in a neighborhood that was at the time referenced as “The Commons.” The houses, buildings and view of Clague’s street scene are a near identical match to those in the pencil drawing by Alfred Rudolph Waud captioned “Cor. [sic] of Canal and Treme - N Common” (1965.90.316.2) as well as the wood engraving “Corner of Canal & Treme St.” (1974.25.11.46) delineated by Waud and engraved by Samuel S. Kilburn, Jr. for a newspaper series called “Sketches of the Flood in New Orleans.” Both of these works on paper are in The Historic New Orleans Collection, with the latter illustrated in Rouhlac Toledano and Mary Louise Christovich’s New Orleans Architecture Volume VI: Faubourg Treme and the Bayou Road. Two other known watercolors by Clague of city scenes are “Rose Nicaud’s Coffee Stand at the French Market” in the collection of the Louisiana State Museum and “Halfway House” held in a private collection. Clague rarely depicted urban architecture and seems to have found watercolor his preferred medium for doing so. The future founder of the Louisiana landscape painting tradition could not resist the allure of the New Orleans streets that have captivated so many artists over the centuries. The diagonal composition, fine line work and soft, blended shading display Clague’s French academic training, while the inclusion of figures and lone dog in the street add life to the scene. This exceptionally rare work by Clague offers a unique viewpoint into one of Louisiana’s most influential artists. Ref.: Christovich, Mary Louise and Roulhac Toledano. New Orleans Architecture Volume VI: Faubourg Treme and the Bayou Road. Gretna, LA: Pelican Publishing Company, 1980, pp. 63-64. Toledano, Roulhac. Richard Clague: 1821-1873. New Orleans: New Orleans Museum of Art, 1974, p. 37. 1965.90.316.2, The L. Kemper and Leila Moore Williams Founders Collection, The Historic New Orleans Collection, New Orleans, LA. 1974.25.11.46, Permanent Collection, The Historic New Orleans Collection, New Orleans, LA

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November 16, 2023 1:00 PM CST
New Orleans, LA, US

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