Robert Rucker
Dimensions given include frame.
A famous New Orleans artist, Robert Rucker was (appropriately) the son of a steamboat captain, born in the Crescent City in 1932. He was something of a prodigy, being only 16 when he opened an art gallery in the French Quarter, back in its more bohemian days. Could there be a more New Orleanian artist?
His father’s profession is probably what led to so many of his paintings focusing on watery scenes along the river. But he also notably painted many scenes of his native French Quarter. He received a big blow at a relatively young age when he came down with polio, but was fortunate to have the state government support his tuition as the McCrady School of Fine Arts in the Quarter (on Bourbon Street, of course, he being the quintessential New Orleans artist!) McCardy died in 2001 after a long and illustrious career. His paintings are highly sought after.
LIFE
Robert Rucker was born in 1932 and grew up in Depression-era New Orleans. When he was a teenager, he and his mother opened a gallery in the French Quarter, beginning his long and prolific art career. After he contracted polio, the Louisiana Department of Education paid for his education at to the John McCrady School of Fine Arts. He completed his studies, then taught in his own studio and for the New Orleans Recreation Department, and worked at Tulane University as a textile designer and medical artist. Rucker died in 2001, leaving behind a legacy as one of Louisiana’s foremost painters.
ART
Rucker works in a romantic style that merges realism and impressionism, often in oil paint with pastel tones. He carries on the tradition of the Louisiana landscapes created in the 1800s by painters like Richard Clague and Marshall J. Smith. Rucker paints dreamlike, iconic glimpses of historical Louisiana. He is famous for his landscapes as well as many depictions of steamboats (his father and grandfathers were steamboat captains).
RECOGNITION
Louisiana Legends Award - 1996
One-man shows in New Orleans at the Isaac Delgado Museum of Art, Royal Orleans Hotel, Louisiana National Guard Convention and Trial Lawyer Convention
Work shown at Baton Rouge at Louisiana State University's Library, Gerard Ruth's Gallery, and galleries in St. Louis, Chicago and San Francisco
Sources:
AskArt
Artnet.com
Gilley’s Gallery