The Jackson Square Artist Community

Photos by NewOrleansPhotographs.com © 2003 Stanley Beck

In the beginning...

For over 50 years, painters and portrait artists have been working and displaying their artwork on the iron fence that encloses Jackson Square. This somewhat bohemian colony of artists was not a contrived creation, but rather a spontaneous outgrowth of an ever increasing tourist economy in the French Quarter following World War II. Actually, there are some records and news articles that suggest that artists occasionally sold their work from the fence as far back as the late 1800's.

The present art colony started small, in Pirate Alley, and, by the mid 1950's, had already occupied the sidewalk that defined the perimeter of Jackson Square. At it's peak, Jackson Square numbered over 300 artists, occupying every section of fence, much of Pirate Alley and the Cathedral fence on Royal Street.

A new look...

By 1970, the City decided that the area around Jackson Square should be a pedestrian mall, and the streets were closed off to vehicular traffic. By 1974, the work was completed, replacing the streets and sidewalks with a flagstone surface, from the fence to the surrounding buildings. Artists and visitors were no longer crowded into the space of a narrow sidewalk.

Artists still arrive in the morning, and work through the heat of summer or the cold of winter, having only patio umbrellas to protect them from the elements. During a sudden downpour, it becomes be a mad scramble to get their artwork protected under the balconies of the Pontalba Apartments (or under the Cabildo, before it was fenced off).

Many artists develop a preference for certain locations, and their customers know where to look for them. Look for them is the task, because, as self employed entrepreneurs, they keep a schedule known only to themselves, and one which can change faster than the New Orleans weather. Often one would find the artist's paintings on the fence, only to have to search the local cafes to find the artist.

Even today, New Orleans residents will come out on the weekends with their children or grandchildren, for a portrait, or to find that special painting for their living room or office. Tourists and convention attendees will take time to visit the Square also, for an artful souvenir, or just to say hello to an artist whose work they purchased during a previous visit.

While the atmosphere of the art colony remains much the way it was decades ago, there are the subtle changes that underscore the changing times. Decades ago, all business was on a cash basis. Gradually, transactions would be made with checks, then with credit cards. Today, you see the artists under their umbrellas, talking on cellular phones, with their carts and signs boasting their website URL's, and their business cards listing FAX numbers and email addresses.

Over the years, many have grown old, and passed away. Indeed, some artist's customers would include three or four generations of a family. Today, many of the artists are relatively new to the scene, although there are still those who have been there since the early 1950's. There are even a couple who can still talk about how it all started.