Lot 181: George Rodrigue Blue Dog Painting, Return of the Loupe-Garou

George Rodrigue (American/Louisiana, 1944-2013), “The Return of the Loupe-Garou,” acrylic on canvas painting featuring Rodrigue’s iconic Blue Dog seated atop a white tombstone or monument. A full moon, glowing pink, rises from the horizon and casts shadows around a bare, red tree. Signed “Rodrigue” lower left. Rodrigue Galleries stamp en verso. Molded giltwood frame. Stretcher: 24 in. H x 20 in. W. Frame: 29 in. H x 25 in. W. Circa 1995. This painting is in the catalog raisonne of George Rodrigue’s works maintained by the artist’s estate. Biography: Born and raised in Cajun Country, artist George Rodrigue “portrayed on his canvas what he feared was his dying heritage – including its land, people, traditions, and mythology and sought to ‘graphically interpret the Cajun culture, preserving it in the face of a progressive world’. Rodrigue began to draw and paint as a child, after being confined to bed with polio. Recovered, he went on to study art at the University of Southwest Louisiana and the Art Center College of Design, then in Los Angeles. In the early 1990s he was commissioned to create art for a book of Cajun ghost stories. This project was the genesis of his Blue Dog Series, inspired by the French-Cajun Loup-Garou legend (of a cursed human who transforms into a werewolf under the full moon) and modeled after his own childhood dog, Tiffany. The Blue Dog catapulted him to worldwide fame. Rodrigue portrayed his famous melancholy canine subject in a variety of unlikely settings, with Presidents, celebrities and in ads for Absolut Vodka, as well as in traditional bayou landscapes. A passionate philanthropist, Rodrigue later founded the George Rodrigue Foundation of the Arts www.rodriguefoundation.org, advocating the importance of the arts in education. Programs include art supplies for schools, scholarships, and arts integration through Louisiana A+ Schools. Rodrique died of cancer in 2013 at the age of 69. (Source: The George Rodrigue Foundation). 

PROVENANCE: Private Southern Collection. 

CONDITION: Excellent condition.