{"id":18443,"date":"2025-02-14T16:35:55","date_gmt":"2025-02-14T22:35:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/georgerodrigue.com\/blog\/?p=18443"},"modified":"2025-02-14T16:35:55","modified_gmt":"2025-02-14T22:35:55","slug":"explore-rodrigue-before-the-blue-dog-the-cabildo-in-jackson-square-welcomes-exciting-exhibition-thru-september-28-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/georgerodrigue.com\/blog\/explore-rodrigue-before-the-blue-dog-the-cabildo-in-jackson-square-welcomes-exciting-exhibition-thru-september-28-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Explore “Rodrigue: Before the Blue Dog.” The Cabildo in Jackson Square Welcomes Exciting Exhibition thru September 28, 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The Louisiana State Museum<\/a>, Louisiana Museum Foundation, and Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser are excited to announce \u00a0Rodrigue: Before the Blue Dog<\/em>, a new exhibition at the Cabildo in New Orleans. This new exhibit presents more than fifty of Rodrigue’s unique paintings alongside Louisiana State Museum artifacts related to Cajun culture.<\/p>\n

Before George Rodrigue’s Blue Dog paintings catapulted him to international fame, the artist was already known for his dark, often ghostly, depictions of the Cajun landscape, culture, and people. Born and raised in New Iberia, Rodrigue returned to the region after attending art school in Los Angeles with a new appreciation of its distinctiveness. “Each time I’d come back to Louisiana,” Rodrigue explained, “I’d see something different that I hadn’t noticed growing up. I started painting, and I saw all this stuff leaving us, things I wanted to capture in the Cajun country, and so I decided to call myself a Cajun artist.”<\/p>\n

“George Rodrigue spent the first three decades of his artistic career capturing the landscapes, stories, and people of his native New Iberia and the region he called home. Perhaps no artist was as committed as Rodrigue to preserving and celebrating Cajun cultural heritage. These paintings graphically interpret the history of the Cajun culture in Louisiana, providing a treasure trove of information for future generations,” said Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser.<\/p>\n

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While his artistic vision was undeniably unique, Rodrigue’s interest in his Cajun heritage was part of a broader cultural movement in the 1960s and 1970s, the Cajun Revival. Like Rodrigue, others of his generation sensed the passing of a distinctive culture and set out to document and revitalize its language, traditions, music, and food.<\/p>\n

This revival not only increased ethnic pride among Cajuns but also created a new interest in Acadian culture outside the region. When, for example, Louisiana musicians including Dewey Balfa introduced Cajun music to a national audience at the 1964 Newport Folk Festival in Rhode Island, they were met with standing ovations. Similarly, Paul Prudhomme’s penchant for blackening red fish led to a craze for Cajun-inspired cuisine across America. This exhibition will explore how Rodrigue’s work reflected and advanced this movement.<\/p>\n

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Watch a short reel produced by @LASTATEMUSEUM<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n