Keys Antique Cars
1981 by George Rodrigue
Approximate size, 30 x 40 inches
Oil on canvas
Signed by the artist
Sold. Click here to subscribe to our mailing list and be among the first to know of new arrivals.
Keys Antique Cars and Untitled, Woman in Red with Thunderbird (below) were commissioned by the same collector in the early 1980s. Unfortunately, the full story of the commission has been lost by mother nature and time. The original owners, the Keys, are deceased, and the paperwork was lost in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. We can only assume they had an outstanding collection of antique cars of which these two paintings only show a small sample. Mr. Keys stands in a typical Rodrigue landscape among the oak trees with two of his prized possessions, we believe to be a Ford Model A and a Ford Model T-Touring, while his wife is portrayed in the other landscape standing next to a mid-1950s white Thunderbird.
It’s clear that while the couple may have been friends with the artist, Rodrigue must have been quite pleased with the commission on another level. His love of cars started when he was very young, fascinated by the 1950s in general and the wildly popular ’57 Chevy. He even laughed at his childhood humiliation, when in 1953 his mama was afraid to floor her ’49 DeSoto therefore holding up traffic on Pike’s Peak. This love of cars continued through adulthood; a ’62 Corvair carried Rodrigue back and forth on Route 66 between New Iberia, Louisiana and the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles while in school. After returning home to pursue his career as an artist, he had his “dream cars”, a number of which he ultimately did own.
He once described his passion in this way: “I rarely get depressed, but when I do, I buy a car. It’s not the car that cheers me up, but rather figuring out how to pay for it. The challenge pulls me out of the dumps”.
Untitled, Woman in Red with Thunderbird
1981 by George Rodrigue
Approximate size, 24 x 36 inches
Oil on canvas
Signed by the artist
Contact gallery for pricing. Availability subject to change without notice.