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Douglas Bourgeois (American/Louisiana, b. 1951), "Helen Dreams of Spring", 1986, oil on plywood, signed, dated and titled en verso, verso with a "Galerie Simonne Stern, New Orleans, Louisiana" gallery label, 7-1/2" x 8". Provenance: Private collection, New Orleans, Louisiana; Galerie Simonne Stern, New Orleans, Louisiana. Douglas Bourgeois was born in Saint Amant, Louisiana, and the intense character of Southern landscape and culture is a lingering component in his work. Bourgeois finds inspiration and influence from biographical fantasies, tributes to pop icons, discarded paper media, religious iconography and the mysterious life of objects. As a child, he attended Catholic school and had once intended to become a priest, but rock and roll music gained popularity around the same time, influencing him to alter his career choice. Themes of music and religion play out equally in his work. Bourgeois' early style was influenced by the visionary outsider artists and the raw expressive extravagance of Chicago Imagism. Although he is reluctant to define his art, in 1990, a New Orleans art critic, D. Eric Bokhardt dubbed Bourgeois along with a group of fellow New Orleans artists, such as Jacqueline Bishop and George Febres, as a "Visionary Imagist", whose art deals mostly with social, psychological and emotional issues. Looking at the intimate portrait, "Helen Dreams of Spring", rendered in a Bourgeois' trademark meticulously detailed style, we are reminded of early Renaissance panels and icons. The mundane is transformed into mysterious and mystical; pansies, seen in the background, known to grow in Louisiana during wintertime are a symbol of free thinking, while "Helen" bears an expression of deep thought as she dreams of coming spring and perhaps a personal awakening.


  • Condition: In very good condition. Faint horizontal scratch lower right.

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October 16, 2015 1:00 PM CDT
New Orleans, LA, US

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