JOSEPHINE CRAWFORD: AN ARTIST'S VISION

Josephine Crawford: An Artist's Vision Chronicles the Modern Art Movement in New Orleans through the Works of a Pivotal Artist

March 2009, New Orleans, LA - This spring The Historic New Orleans Collection releases a biography of Josephine Marien Crawford (1878-1952), a New Orleans artist whose works were inspired by Cubism and the flattened forms and minimalist approach of modernism. Richly illustrated and compellingly narrated by author Louise C. Hoffman, Josephine Crawford: An Artist's Vision traces the artist's career from the academy of French master André Lhote to galleries in New Orleans, New York, Philadelphia, and Central America. 

Described by art critic George Jordan as “one of the most experimental painters of the New South between 1900 and 1950,” Josephine Crawford began to study art seriously in her mid-forties. In the 1920s she enrolled in the art school of the of Arts and Crafts Club, the center of artistic interest in New Orleans from the late 1920s to the late 1940s. Immediately, art columnists took notice, marveling at the discovery of a previously unknown talent in their midst. One New Orleans critic commented in 1927, “The paintings of Miss Josephine Crawford aroused a great deal of interest not only for their exceptional merit and individuality but also for the fact that this is the first year that Miss Crawford has done any sort of painting.” 

In the winter of 1927-28 Crawford studied in Paris with André Lhote at his academy in Montparnasse, a pivotal time in her development as an artist. Assimilating Lhote's teachings and the tenets of the modern movement, Crawford developed a style that was distinctly her own. Active through the 1940s, this prolific artist elicited acclaim both locally and nationally during her short career.

In Josephine Crawford: An Artist's Vision, Louise C. Hoffman provides a glimpse of the personality of Crawford and skillfully recreates the Parisian and New Orleans art worlds in the first half of the 20th century. Featuring more than 70 paintings and drawings by the renowned artist and works by André Lhote, Josephine Crawford: An Artist's Vision marks another winning entry in the Louisiana Artist Biography Series established by The Historic New Orleans Collection in 2003.
The Author
Louise C. Hoffman is a native North Carolinian and graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Formerly an editor at The Historic New Orleans Collection, she is now a freelance writer living in New Orleans.

Book Details
Published by The Historic New Orleans Collection, 2009 • 176 pp. • 9¾ x 8¼ • Cloth • 
ISBN 978-0-917860-53-9 • $30