My high school friend, Neelon Crawford, passed through recently on his way from South Pole-sium, a gathering of Antarctic "veterans of the ice, historians, authors, artists of various kinds, descendants of those who had staked their lives on the pursuit of science and exploration" (see David Hirzel's post) to New Orleans for the opening of "Ralston Crawford and Jazz," his father's show at the New Orleans Museum of Art (through Oct 14, 2012).
Neelon and his brother John Crawford, both fine artists in their own right, were there for the opening and surrounding festivities and did this NPR interview with Diane Mack explaining their father's love for and connection with New Orleans.
Here's a snippet from NOMA's page on the show, along with one of the photos.
Though he is often remembered for his pre-World-War II precisionist paintings of urban and industrial subjects, Ralston Crawford produced a significant body of work after 1949 inspired by the culture of New Orleans. This summer, NOMA will present Ralston Crawford and Jazz, an exhibition that considers the relationships between music, photography, painting, drawing and film as they intersect in Crawford’s work in New Orleans. Organized by the Sheldon Art Galleries, in Saint Louis, MO, the exhibition includes over 150 photographs, prints, paintings, drawings and films, many never before published.
Different aspects of New Orleans have inspired many artists and writers, but for Crawford, New Orleans jazz music had the most profound effect. In his work, Crawford imported the elements of jazz—syncopation, polyphony, and improvisation—and transformed them into visual strategies. Thinking along these lines, Crawford produced photographs of jazz musicians that are as punchy and rhythmic as the music that his subjects played. He made equally strong, graphic photographs of the cemeteries, weathered buildings, signage, and boats at dock. Always inventive, Crawford also interpreted these same scenes in lithographs, paintings, and films. This exhibition brings together works in all of these media and, in some cases, displays the painting, lithograph, or drawing, next to the photograph that inspired it.
