Artwork Description:
NOTE THIS WORK IS DEDICATED TO DOMINIQUE REM MIE FELLS, 27 OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA. Dominique, a transgendered person of color, was murdered in June of 2020. Part of the proceeds will benefit the Food Bank at the Philadelphia Episcopal Cathedral. This art work combines both printmaking and painting and is related to my New Orleans Collection. The scene depicts the building at 701 Bourbon Street at the intersection of St. Peters in New Orleans. The structure also functioned in the 1930s as the POM POM BAYOU GROCERY STORE. The zinc plate etching is based on drawings executed by the artist , which were all inspired by a Walter Cook Keenan photograph from 1949. This photograph is from the Walter Cook Keenan New Orleans Photographs Collection, Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries. The dimensions for the framed work is 16 inches by 12 inches. The etching-watercolor is executed on RivesBFK white paper and then mounted on Stonehenge black paper. Dixies Jazz Bar attracted lesbians, gays, straights, and an eclectic mix of local and nationally known patrons. Dixie, or Yvonne Miss Dixie Fasnacht, and her lover Irma lived in an apartment upstairs from the club. At the suggestion of Louisiana author and club regular, Lyle Saxon, Dixie and Irma commissioned Xavier Gonzalez to paint a 35-foot mural for the bar. Gonzalez filled it with 66 well-known entertainers who visited the bar. Celebrities featured in the mural included Lena Horne, Xavier Cugat, Louis Prima, Benny Goodman, Salvador Dali, Helen Hays, George Gershwin, Kate Smith,, the Dorsey brothers, Hazel Scott, the Ink Spots, Paul Robeson, Paul Whiteman, Jack Benny, the Andrews Sisters, Connie Boswell and Dorothy Lamour.
Keywords:
Jazz, New Orleans, The Big East, Gay Bar, Etching, Original Printmaking, Landmarks Printmaking