The passing of Hurricane Katrina's 10th anniversary this summer brought back memories of New Orleans' living nightmare of disaster, with first the initial impact of the storm and then the horrific flooding that followed. A city like no other, New Orleans has always had its own creative community and has inspired many visiting artists as well. Edgar Degas, for example,
visited his brothers in New Orleans in 1872, stayed for six months and produced some very interesting paintings, as well as becoming the only French Impressionist to make a trip to the United States. Another Frenchman, Hippolyte Sebron (1801-1879), journeyed to the U.S. in 1848 and stayed for several years, spending time in New Orleans where he painted his
Giant Steamboats of the Levee in 1853. Yet a third native of France, Marie Adrien Persac, depicted scenes of Louisiana and New Orleans, including his
Port and City of New Orleans and
French Opera House of 1859. The French Opera House hosted many a spectacular production during its heyday but sadly was destroyed by fire in 1919. And finally, Illinois-born artist George Overbury Hart (1868-1933) enjoyed traveling and working in watercolors because of their portability, and circa 1917 Hart seemed to have made his way to New Orleans, as evidenced by his
Old French Market.
All nationalities, all religions, all civilizations, meet and mingle to make up this city, which, upholding the cross to indicate its religion, still, in its municipal character, accepts the Mohammedan symbol of the crescent. Added to the throng which comes and goes upon the levee, merchants, clerks, hotel runners, hackmen, stevedores, and river men of all grades, keep up a general motion and excitement, while piled upon the platforms which serve as a connecting link between the water-craft and the shore, are packages of merchandise in every conceivable shape, cotton bales seeming to be most numerous.
Willard W. Glazier -- Peculiarities of American Cities, 1883
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Pictured: Giant Steamboats at the Levee in New Orleans -- Hippolyte Sebron (1853); Port and City of New Orleans -- Marie Adrien Persac (1858), French Opera House -- Marie Adrien Persac (1859); The Cotton Exchange -- Edgar Degas (1873); Old French Market -- George Overbury Hart (ca. 1917)
