🔥 RARE Vintage CAJUN Modern BLUE DOG Big Chief Blues Lithograph

Description: This is a fantastic and seldomly seen RARE Vintage CAJUN Modern BLUE DOG Big Chief Blues Lithograph or Silkscreen Serigraph on Paper, titled: Big Chief Blues, which was produced by the world-famous Cajun artist George Rodrigue (1944 - 2013,) in a very limited edition run in 1993. This artwork depicts a portrait of the infamous Blue Dog, situated in the center of a red Native American drum with purple and yellow zigzag trim, against a pitch-black background. The subject has soulful yellow eyes that stare directly at the viewer, which gaze outwardly with a contemplative and captivating expression. Annotated: "A/P" for Artist Proof in the lower left corner and hand signed: "Rodrigue" in the lower right corner. The actual artwork is approximately 22 x 25 1/4 inches. The printed area is approximately 21 x 21 inches. Very good condition for age, with some very faint edge wear to the upper left corner of the print, and several tears to the cellophane covering which encases the artwork, which are visible at the corners (please see photos carefully.) This artwork has been kept in this original protective sleeve since the early 1990's, which is why the condition of this piece is Near - Mint condition. Acquired from an affluent estate collection in Los Angeles County, California. Priced to Sell. If you like what you see, I encourage you to make an Offer. Please check out my other listings for more wonderful and unique artworks! About the Artist: George Rodrigue Born: 1944 - New Iberia, LouisianaDied: 2013 - Houston, TexasKnown for: Blue dogs and bayou landscape painting, postersName variants: George Rodrigues George Rodrigue (1944 - 2013) was active/lived in Louisiana, California. George Rodrigue is known for Blue Dogs and bayou landscape painting, posters. George Rodrigue (1944 - 2013) was born March 13, 1944, and grew up in New Iberia, Louisiana. Rodrigue is mostly known for his signature BLUE DOG artwork series. The inspiration for George Rodrigue's BLUE DOG artwork series came from his pet dog named Tiffany that he owned when he was a child. Rodrigue took the Blue Dog through numerous phases of development, eventually using the image to comment on life today. George Rodrigue didn't begin his career with the BLUE DOG artwork series, Rodrigue first began painting works that represented his Cajun background. These Rodrigue artworks included scenes of people or houses in the swamp or bayou. Before Rodrigue's death in 2013 he reverted back to his beginnings and continued his Cajun themed artworks. GEORGE RODRIGUE(1944-2013)Born and raised in Cajun Country, Louisiana, U.S.A., artist George Rodrigue portrayed on his canvas what he feared was his dying heritage—-including its land, people, traditions, and mythology. As he often explained, he sought to “graphically interpret the Cajun culture,” preserving it in the face of a progressive world.Rodrigue’s art studies at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles spawned one of the greatest success stories in American art. In the early 1990s his Blue Dog Series, based on the French-Cajun loup-garou legend, catapulted him to worldwide fame, while his dark Renaissance-like landscapes developed into robust modern masterpieces. George Rodrigue, Artist Who Painted Blue Dog, Dies at 69By WILLIAM YARDLEYPublished: December 18, 2013 George Rodrigue, whose career as an artist started with dark and lush landscapes of his native Louisiana bayou but shifted abruptly, and profitably, when he began a series of portraits of a single subject, a melancholy mutt that came to be known as Blue Dog, died on Saturday in Houston. He was 69.The cause was cancer, his family said.Mr. Rodrigue, who grew up in New Iberia, in southern Louisiana, set out to document and celebrate Cajun culture with works such as The Aioli Dinner (1971), which depicts traditional gatherings on the lawns of plantations. He won recognition in France and Italy.He painted portraits of famous people, including the celebrity chef Paul Prudhomme, who helped introduce Cajun food and culture to the world in the 1970s, as well as Walker Percy, Huey Long, Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev.Among his many commissions was a request in 1984 that he do the artwork for a collection of Cajun ghost stories, including a painting of a ghost dog, or werewolf, known in his part of the world as the loup-garou.Mr. Rodrigue (pronounced rod-REEG) found his model in his studio: a photograph of his dog, Tiffany, who had died. She was black and white in reality but became blue in his imagination, with yellow eyes. She was also a she, but she could become a he — or, for that matter, whatever else a viewer was prepared to see."The yellow eyes are really the soul of the dog," Mr. Rodrigue told The New York Times in 1998. "He has this piercing stare. People say the dog keeps talking to them with the eyes, always saying something different."He added: "People who have seen a Blue Dog painting always remember it. They are really about life, about mankind searching for answers. The dog never changes position. He just stares at you. And you're looking at him, looking for some answers, 'Why are we here?,' and he's just looking back at you, wondering the same. The dog doesn't know. You can see this longing in his eyes, this longing for love, answers."By the early 1990s, Mr. Rodrigue was painting only Blue Dog."I dropped all the Cajun influence," he said in an interview with the New Orleans public television station WLAE.Mr. Rodrigue was born in New Iberia on March 13, 1944, the only child of George and Marie Rodrigue. His father was a bricklayer. He began learning to draw and paint after he was found to have polio at age 8 and spent several months in bed. He studied art at the University of Southwest Louisiana (now the University of Louisiana at Lafayette) in the mid-1960s and attended the Art Center College of Design (then in Los Angeles; now in Pasadena) from 1965 to 1967.He returned to Louisiana in 1968. In 1976, he published his first book, The Cajuns of George Rodrigue."Survivors include his wife, Wendy, and two sons, Jacques and Andre.Louisiana's governor, Bobby Jindal, and a former governor, Kathleen Blanco, as well as the musician Irvin Mayfield, were among those scheduled to speak at a memorial service for him on Thursday at St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans. Mr. Rodrigue boasted that it was not uncommon for his Blue Dog paintings to sell for $25,000. Some were rumored to have sold for 10 times that.He painted Blue Dogs with presidents, with naked women in faux French scenes, on the lawn with his Aioli dining club party, inside a soup can, in ads for Absolut Vodka and next to Marilyn Monroe (return jabs, perhaps, at those who dismissed him as a Pop Art opportunist). Critics were not always impressed, but he said he did not care.In later years Mr. Rodrigue painted other subjects, but he did not abandon Blue Dog. He said he painted in part for the people who walked past his studio on Royal Street in the French Quarter of New Orleans."You have to do something that really attracts the attention," he said in the WLAE interview. "I didn't start out doing that, but that's to fight for that audience. It's great. It's really great, because it's a cross-section of the whole country here that walks down Royal Street, and the world."Biography from the Archives of askART From New Iberia, Louisiana, George Rodrigue is known for his Blue-Dog series, inspired by his long-deceased childhood pet, Tiffany, whom he poses with other animals and people.He had early art talent, and ill for nearly a year, he used watercolors and crayons to pass the time, and this activity set his future. He studied at the University of Southwestern Louisiana and in Los Angeles at the Art Center College of Design.For a while he painted Abstract Expressionist works but then went back to painting that which reflected his own Cajun culture including folk tales and bayou and swamp landscapes.Gradually a black and white spaniel, based on his childhood companion, Tiffany, appeared more and more in Rodgrigue's paintings and became the Blue Dog, now a compelling and humorous pop figure in his original and silk screen reproductions.In 2000, representatives of the Xerox Corporation commissioned Rodrigue with a multi-million-dollar contract to do a series of Blue-Dog paintings to promote their printers.George Rodrigue is also the artist for the Absolut Vodka ads and has created the artwork for three of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival posters. The 1995 poster with the portrait of Louis Armstrong and the 1996 one featuring Pete Fountain have become collectors' items.George Rodrigue and his wife, Wendy, have created the House of Blues Foundation Room to support arts and cultural programs for youth. Money is raised through the sale of his paintings.A George Rodrigue Museum is in Lafayette, Louisiana. Biography from Adelaide Fine ArtGeorge Rodrigue was born in New Iberia, Louisiana in 1944. Rodrigue’s gallery biography states: “Born and raised in Cajun country, Louisiana, U.S.A., artist George Rodrigue portrayed on his canvas what he feared was the dying heritage - including its land, people, traditions, and mythology."As he often explained, he sought to “graphically interpret Cajun culture,” preserving it in the face of a progressive world. Rodrigue’ art studies at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles spawned one of the greatest success stories in American art. In the early 1990s his Blue Dog Series, based on the French - Cajun loop - garou legend, catapulted him to a worldwide fame, while his dark Renaissance - like landscapes developed into robust modern masterpieces. As a passionate philanthropist, Rodrigue founded the George Rodrigue Foundation of the Arts, advocating the importance of the arts in education. Programs include art supplies for schools, scholarships, and arts integration through Louisiana A+ Schools.” The artist passed away in Houston, TX in 2013 at the age of 69 from cancer. Original works by George Rodrigue are held in numerous public and private collections internationally, including (partial list):Absolut Vodka, SwedenAlexandria Museum of Art, Alexandria, LABirmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, ALFirst National Bank, Hammond, LAGeorge Bush Presidential Library, Houston, TXMontgomery Museum of Fine Arts, Montgomery, ALMorris Museum of Art, Augusta, GANational World War II Museum, New Orleans, LAOgden Museum of Southern Art, New Orleans, LAOrleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LASmithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.Southern Food and Beverage Museum, New Orleans, LASusquehanna Art Museum, Harrisburg, PASydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden, New Orleans, LAUniversity of Louisiana at Lafayette Foundation, Lafayette, LA?University Art Museum, Lafayette, LA?Zigler Museum, Jennings, LA Biography from Zigler MuseumGeorge Rodrigue was born and reared along the banks of the winding Bayou Teche in New Iberia, Louisiana. He now lives and works in Lafayette. Rodrigue attended the University of Southwestern Louisiana and the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles.After working briefly in New York as a commercial artist, he returned to his native Louisiana in 1967 to paint the Cajun culture that so dominated his imagination. GEORGE RODRIGUEborn 1944 in New Iberia, LAdied 2013 in Houston, TX EDUCATIONUniversity of Southwest Louisiana (Now ULL), Lafayette, LAArt Center College of Design, Los Angeles, CA SELECTED EXHIBITIONS2023Envisioning the South: The Roger Ogden Collection, Hilliard Art Museum, University of Louisiana, Lafayette, Lafayette, LAThe River is the Road: Paintings by George Rodrigue, West Baton Rouge Museum, Port Allen, LAWritten in the Stars: Celebrating 100 Louisiana Luminaries, Louisiana State Archives, Baton Rouge, LA2022Carnival in the Nation’s Capitol: The Washington Mardi Gras Ball, Capitol Park Museum, Baton Rouge, LA2021Evangeline: Evolution of an Icon, West Baton Rouge Museum, Port Allen, LA2018Rodrigue’s Blue Dog: Discovering Late Works on Canvas and Metal, Our-O’Keefe Museum of Art, Biloxi, MSGeorge Rodrigue: The Cajun Landscape, LSU Museum of Art, Baton Rouge, LA2017Rodrigue Comes Home: Shiny Happy Blue Dog, Bayou Teche Museum, New Iberia, LA2016The Art of George Rodrigue: A Retrospective, Longview Museum of Art, Longview, TX2012Blue Dogs in Texas, Amarillo Museum of Art, Amarillo, TX2011Blue Dogs and Cajuns on the River, LSU Museum of Art, Baton Rouge, LA2010George Rodrigue: Images of Home, Hilliard Art Museum, University of Louisiana, Lafayette, Lafayette, LA2009Blue Dog: The Process of Prints and George Rodrigue: Legends and Lives Acadiana, Acadiana Center of the Arts, Lafayette, LA2008Rodrigue’s Louisiana: Forty Years of Cajuns, Blue Dogs, and Beyond Katrina, New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA2007Blue Dog: The Art of George Rodrigue, Dixon Gallery and Gardens, Memphis, TN2004George Rodrigue Retrospective Exhibition, Pensacola Museum of Art, Pensacola, FL1996Blue Dog for President, Union Station, Washington, DC1989George Rodrigue, Upstairs Gallery, Beverly Hills, CA1988Moscow Summit, Moscow, USSR1983The Kingfish Painting, Senate Rotunda, Washington DC1974Le Salon, Grand Palais, Paris, France1970George Rodrigue Old State Capitol Building, Louisiana State Art Commission, Baton Rouge, LA1968 George Rodrigue, Reilly Gallery, New Orleans, LA SELECTED BOOKS AND PUBLICATIONS2015Rodrigue: The Sanders Collection. Foreword by Nolan Ryan. Rodrigue Studios.2009Are You Blue Dogs Friend? Text by George Rodrigue. Harry N. Abrams.2008Blue Dog Speaks. Text by George Rodrigue. Sterling Publishing.George Rodrigue Prints: A Catalogue Raisonne 1970-2007. Foreword by E. John Bullard. Harry N. Abrams.2003The Art of George Rodrigue. Text by Ginger Santo and Michael Lewis. Harry N. Abrams.2002Why is Blue Dog Blue? Text by George Rodrigue. Harry N. Abrams.1999Blue Dog Man. Foreword by Tom Brokaw. Stewart, Tabori & Chang.1995George Rodrigue: A Cajun Artist. Text by Lawrence S. Freundich. Viking Press.1994Blue Dog. Text by Lawrence S. Freudich and George Rodrigue. Viking Press.1984Bayou. Text by Chris Segura, Illustrations by George Rodrigue. Inkwell Publications.1976The Cajuns of George Rodrigue. Text by George Rodrigue. Oxmoor House. SELECTED PUBLIC COLLECTIONSBirmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, ALLSU Museum of Art, Baton Rouge, LAMuseum of Fine Arts, Houston, TXNew Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LAPaul and Lulu Hilliard University Art Museum, Univ. of Louisiana at Lafayette, Lafayette, LA SELECTED COMMISSIONS2000Commissioned by Young & Rubicam to create paintings for a Xerox Color Inkjet Printers advertising campaign1998Commissioned by Neiman Marcus to create three fiberglass Rodrigue cows for the Chicago Cow Parade1997Commissioned by the Democratic National Party to paint official Presidential Inaugural Portrait of Bill Clinton1996Commissioned by Neiman Marcus to design catalogue cover for The Book (Butterflies are Free) 1995Commissioned by New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival to paint Louis Armstrong.1993Commissioned by Michel Roux and Absolut Vodka to create Absolut Rodrigue and Absolut Louisiana ads1988Commissioned by the Republican Party to paint Vice-President George H W Bush and his grandchildren1986Commissioned by the Republican Party to paint a portrait of President Ronald Reagan

Price: 3500 USD

Location: Orange, California

End Time: 2025-01-09T15:56:36.000Z

Shipping Cost: N/A USD