1 2 1 “For the first time in history, the majority of the world’s population lives in urban communities,” the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego observed with its 2010 exhibition Viva la Revolución: A Dialogue with the Urban Landscape. “The city itself, its buildings, vehicles, people, and advertisements, are not only the surface where the art is applied. The city fuels the practice.” The New Orleans urban landscape similarly animates and contextualizes Art of the City: Postmodern to Post-Katrina, presented by The Helis Foundation. This collection of art and artists illustrates the city’s multilayered character and confirms its significance as an incubator of cultural diversity. Art of the City focuses loosely on the period from the 1984 Louisiana World Exposition through the present—a vital yet turbulent era in the life of the Big Easy. The design of the world’s fair and the art it exhibited fit into the postmodern movement of the day, which rejected established styles and cultural norms and embraced a diversity of perspectives and forms. The convergence of these ideas and this international event in New Orleans left a lasting imprint Right and next page: Before I Die; 2011; chalkboard paint, spray paint, chalk; by Candy Chang; images courtesy of the artist 2 on the city and its artists. In the aftermath of what is often called “The Storm,” Front cover: encompassing the levee breaches, floods, and much more, New Orleans has Cityscape (detail); 1987; gouache on paper; by Krista Jurisich; THNOC, gift of Judith L. proven resilient, in no small part because of its ascending—and still incubating— Jurisich, 2017.0021 ecosystem of culture and arts. Inside front cover: This exhibition is inspired by the ever-evolving patchwork of neighborhoods, Blues Poem for the Urban Landscape: Planning architecture, cuisines, and music that history has wrought here. We’ve assembled for Urban Renewal; 2003; woodcut on Coventry white wove paper by John T. Scott; courtesy an idiosyncratic mix of interpretations reflecting the urban geography of New of the New Orleans Museum of Art, gift of Orleans, often described as the most European and soulful of American cities. Ashley and Timothy Francis, 2005.69 The artists have been moved by the city’s patina, its inhabitants, and their own individual passions. Their work details the mundane and the mysterious, sometimes 3 4 in the form of a caress and other times a caution. No doubt, there has been a rush to document what at times feels fleeting, threatened, eroding. Walking through the galleries may feel more like a stroll along the bumpy, bending paths of this sinking sanctuary. Our bedrock comes in the form of squishy soils chock-full of ritual and relic. Here, time and experience are especially layered. We can’t help but move in circles, looking backward as well as forward. Voyages in time—real time, memory, dream, myth—are immersive, compelling simultaneous readings of nonsynchronous stories that coexist and collide. Prosperity and loss blur together: oil booms and oil spills, championships and scandals, high rises and empty lots. Many of the works on display in Art of the City are drawn from the holdings of The Historic New Orleans Collection and capture nuances of this special place and time. We present a showcase of work by contemporary artists with New Orleans roots as well as a sampling from deeply invested visiting artists and newcomers. Although some of the represented artists are no longer living, their influence lingers. Beyond the gallery walls, the New Orleans landscape has been enhanced by the peppering of public art over the last three decades. Whether permanent or ephemeral, these installations have woven indelible patterns into the fabric of the city (“the upholstered sewer,” according to Mark Twain). A map on the first floor of the exhibition spotlights a selection of these multidisciplinary works. Programming is another integral component of Art of the City: film screenings, live performances, workshops, tours, dialogues, and more broaden its scope. These programs began with an installation of synchronized bells in the French Quarter in 2018, and also include a bike tour that explores notable architecture along the historic portage route from the river to Bayou St. John, and artist conversations held inside the exhibition and at other public locations. Together, these programs extend the show into the community, stirring lively discussions, debates, and exchanges of viewpoints. From the postmodernism associated with the ’84 world’s fair to the work that has emerged in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the art of New Orleans has been inextricable from its history. As New Orleans enters its fourth century, Art of the City represents the diverse chorus of voices that has long distinguished this city and will shape its future. Jan Gilbert Guest Curator, Art of the City The Wave of the World; 1983–84; restored, 2014; bronze; by Lynda Benglis; image courtesy of Crista Rock 5 In few cities do the historic and the modern commingle more naturally than in New Orleans. This harmony between the old and the new has guided The Historic New Orleans Collection as we’ve prepared to open our largest exhibition space ever, a renovation and addition to the nineteenth-century Seignouret-Brulatour building. The inaugural exhibition in this new space, Art of the City: Postmodern to Post-Katrina, presented by The Helis Foundation, brings the citywide conversation about past and present to the fore with an arresting assembly of contemporary art. The Historic New Orleans Collection has long collected art, building on the vision of the founders, Kemper and Leila Williams. The oldest portraits in the collections are those of Pierre Denis de la Ronde, père, and his wife, Marie Madeleine Broutin de la Ronde, painted around 1760. We also hold works by the prolific Spaniard José Francisco Xavier de Salazar y Mendoza, who preserved the images of some of Louisiana’s most prominent citizens in the late eighteenth century. Genre scenes and portraits give rich representation to the nineteenth- century holdings, and the twentieth-century materials include pieces by local artists who embraced ideas related to international avant-garde movements. Other works, like those by The Collection’s first director, Boyd Cruise, documented historic aspects of New Orleans. Art of the City focuses on the later twentieth century and Marie Madeleine Broutin de la Ronde; ca. 1760; oil on beyond. A desire to provide a broad overview of contemporary art dating roughly canvas; acquisition made possible by the Diana Helis from 1984 to the present informed the selection process, and the city itself informed Henry Art Fund of The Helis Foundation and the the specifics. Artists particularly inspired by New Orleans as an urban environment Laussat Society of THNOC, 2009.0231.1 have been included, although like any exhibition, the art shown is representative Pierre Denis de la Ronde, père; ca. 1760; oil on canvas; of hundreds of works that fit the criteria. acquisition made possible by the Diana Helis Henry Art Fund of The Helis Foundation and the Laussat Why 1984? The Louisiana World Exposition was held in New Orleans that year. Society of THNOC, 2009.0231.2 Built around the theme “The World of Rivers: Fresh Water as a Source of Life,” the world’s fair—the last one held in this country—comprised an elaborately complicated layout of eighty-plus acres along the Mississippi River. The riverfront, once an area that was mostly inaccessible to pedestrians, featured international and 6 Artworks ’84 exhibition; photograph; by Kimberly Parsons; THNOC, gift of Sharon Litwin, 2007.0041 domestic pavilions, an aquacade, and a gondola ride across Americans to the city.) The fair’s elaborate City Gate entrance, the river. A focus on art set the tone and special flavor of the also designed by Moore and featuring sculptures by local artist event. It showcased the wave of postmodernism that was then Joe Barth III, famous for his Mardi Gras float designs, rose cresting across art, architecture, and contemporary philosophy. thirty feet and included two bare-breasted mermaids, alligators, The style could take many forms but was often rebellious, and various Louisiana symbols. More massive sculptures dotted controversial, and/or unpredictable. Though one New York the landscape. The fair also featured the Liggett and Myers Times article criticized the exposition for lacking a vertical Quality Seal Amphitheatre, a spectacular riverfront concert monolith similar to those from previous fairs, such as the venue designed by architect Frank Gehry long before he Eiffel Tower (Paris 1889) or the Trylon and Perisphere (New created the Guggenheim Bilbao or his other renowned concert York 1939), New Orleans had the Wonderwall, which typified halls around the world. The temporary venue, the Wonderwall, postmodernism. Designed by Los Angeles architect Charles and many other structures were removed after the fair. Moore and others, it was a half mile of linear whimsy, sculpturally and structurally housing shops, creating movement The Louisiana World Exposition’s Great Hall, a new with kinetic components, and hiding electrical cable. (Moore, construction, became the basis of the Ernest N. Morial along with local architects, had already created the first major Convention Center. In addition to housing several pavilions, postmodern addition to the New Orleans cityscape in 1978: the a significant art exhibition filled a large part of the building. Piazza d’Italia, erected amid a mix of modern and nineteenth- Artworks ’84, conceived by the local art community and century buildings and celebrating the contributions of Italian- coordinated by the Arts Council New Orleans, spotlighted 7 Louisiana artists and featured a component for artists-in- University, and the University of New Orleans, and although residence to demonstrate various media, including performance Xavier University doesn’t offer a graduate degree, its program and video.