GEORGE DUREAU (1930-2014)
Title - Alias Williams, 1982
Type of Print - Print in Colors
Approximate Image Size - 8" x 8"
Beyond New Orleans, Dureauâ€â„¢s reputation as a photographer is more prominent however. In the 1970s, he began photographing his models â€â€œ most male, often nude, some with physical disabilities. In 2012, he received critical acclaim in the New York Times following the first New York exhibition of his photography. Critic Roberta Smith described the photographs as â€Å“wonderfully immediate and alive,” sharing â€Å“an emotional realism and a sense of intimacy between artist and sitter of the kind that also enriches the portrait paintings of Alice Neel.” On the frequent comparison to photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, who was largely influenced by Dureau, she explains that, â€Å“Mr. Dureauâ€â„¢s subjects have an individuality, vulnerability and intensely personal gravity that Mapplethorpeâ€â„¢s more objectified models often lack.” Literary scholar Claude J. Summers defined it as â€Å“foremost a matter of empathy.”

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