Pierre Joseph Landry: Patriot, Planter, Sculptor Exhibition Showcases Art of Earliest Known Self-Taught Artist in Louisiana
New Orleans, LA- The New Orleans Museum of Art and the Louisiana State Museum will present an exhibition of works by Pierre Joseph Landry (1770-1843) who is the earliest known self-taught artist of note in Louisiana. On view from October 16 through March 20, 2016, this survey exhibition will feature all his known carved wooden sculptures, nearly a dozen in number. The exhibition is part of the city’s year long commemoration of the Bicentennial of the Battle of New Orleans.
“We are delighted to be working with the Louisiana State Museum to celebrate Pierre Joseph Landry, an unsung hero who was a patriot, planter, and sculptor. Through this exhibition of his sculpture, Landry receives the recognition he richly deserves, said Susan M. Taylor, NOMA’s Director. “Providing detailed biographical information and insightful analysis of his iconography and possible sources, NOMA and Louisiana State Museum curators have made a significant contribution to 18th century scholarship in this area.”
“This is the first time all of Pierre Joseph Landry’s art will be featured in a singular exhibition,” said William Fagaly, The Françoise Billion Richardson Curator of African Art. “These are the sculptures of a sophisticated and learned man who took advantage of the unwelcome and challenging medical situation imposed upon him. Rather than whiling away his days suffering relative immobility and isolation, he chose to spend his hours being productive and creative in a new, positive way—by making art. While the output of Pierre Joseph Landry’s sculptures is small in number, that yield is sufficient to establish him as one of the self-taught artistic geniuses of early nineteenth century America.”
Before immigrating to Louisiana in 1785, Pierre Joseph Landry was born in the French village of Saint-Servan-Sur-Mer, Diocese of Saint-Malo on the Brittany coast on January 9, 1770. Landry fought with General Andrew Jackson in the Battle of New Orleans in 1815 and subsequently became a successful sugar planter and the head of a distinguished and prosperous family in south Louisiana. In the 1820s, Landry contracted a debilitating ailment known at the time as “white swelling” or tuberculosis of the knee, and was confined to a wheelchair on his plantation in the rural countryside. To pass the time he began using a common penknife to carve wooden sculptures in local woods such as magnolia, beech, and elm to be given to relatives and friends.
“Landry’s sculptures are very personal statements as well as deeply moving expressions of his transnational cultural identity,” said Mark Tullos, Director of the Louisiana State Museum. “Ranging from the striking self-portrait to the complex allegory presented in Wheel of Life, his carvings have intrigued viewers for nearly 200 years. We are pleased to partner with the New Orleans Museum of Art in presenting these magnificent carvings to the public.”
Seven of the twelve sculptures in the exhibit are in the permanent collection of the Louisiana State Museum.
The subjects of Landry’s carvings widely vary, and are biblical, allegorical, autobiographical and historical which reflects his boundless imagination and learned literary interests. The absence of identifiable carved dates on a majority of his corpus coupled with the variety of subject matter thwart any systematic analysis of Landry’s art. This disparity of subject matter possibly suggests that Landry specifically catered each work’s subject matter to the particular interests of the intended recipient, as is the case with his custom made sculpture for President Jackson.
Landry and Andrew Jackson maintained a friendship after the Battle of New Orleans, so much so that the artist presented the then President of the United States with one of these wooden sculptures: Double Portrait of Andrew Jackson and Louis Phillipe I, Duke of Orléans, commemorating the 1831 payment in gold of over $5,000,000 in French debt from Napoleon I to the United States. Undoubtedly, Landry’s largest and most ambitious work is the Wheel of Life, an allegorical representation of the stages of life of man in ten figural vignettes from birth to death in a circular composition.
“Wheel of Life is Landry’s magnum opus, and of the most iconic and compelling artistic statement to originate from the region during the nineteenth century,” said Tony Lewis, Curator of Visual Arts at the Louisiana State Museum. “The precise origin of symbols is obscure, but certainly stem from a deep and profound reflection on the culture associated with Landry’s French origins and his adopted home in Louisiana.”
Pierre Joseph Landry: Patriot, Planter, Sculptor is jointly organized by the Louisiana State Museum and the New Orleans Museum of Art. An accompanying publication is available for purchase at the NOMA museum shop. This publication is made possible, in part, by the Louisiana State Museum. The publication will also be available at the 1850 House Museum Gift Shop, 523 St. Ann St.
About NOMA and the Besthoff Sculpture Garden
The New Orleans Museum of Art, founded in 1910 by Isaac Delgado, houses nearly 40,000 art objects encompassing 4,000 years of world art. Works from the permanent collection, along with continuously changing special exhibitions, are on view in the museum’s 46 galleries Fridays from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and Saturdays and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The adjoining Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden features work by over 60 artists, including several of the 20th century’s master sculptors. The Sculpture Garden is open seven days a week: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. The New Orleans Museum of Art and the Besthoff Sculpture Garden are fully accessible to handicapped visitors and wheelchairs are available from the front desk. For more information about NOMA, call (504) 658-4100 or visit www.noma.org. Wednesdays are free admission days for Louisiana residents, courtesy of The Helis Foundation. (May not include special exhibitions.) Teenagers (ages 13-19) receive free admission every day through the end of 2015, courtesy of The Helis Foundation.
About the Louisiana State Museum
Founded in 1906, Louisiana State Museum is a system of National Historic Landmarks and architecturally significant structures housing a half-million artifacts that showcase the state’s history and culture. Five museums call New Orleans’ historic French Quarter home—the Cabildo, the Presbytère, 1850 House, Madame John’s Legacy and the Old U.S. Mint. Museums outside of New Orleans include Capitol Park Museum in Baton Rouge; Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame and Northwest Louisiana History Museum in Natchitoches; Wedell-Williams Aviation and Cypress Sawmill Museum in Patterson; and E.D. White Historic Site in Thibodaux. The Louisiana State Museum’s mission focuses on collecting, preserving and interpreting buildings, documents and artifacts that reveal Louisiana’s history and culture and presenting those items using both traditional and innovative technology to educate, enlighten and provide enjoyment for Louisianians and visitors. For more information, visit LouisianaStateMuseum.org.
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