From the New Orleans daily newspaper, The Times-Picayune

MANY-SIDED QUARTER

Alan Flattmann's drawings capture the many faces of the Vieux Carre

09/27/02

By Doug MacCash Art critic

Find room on your shelf of classic New Orleans books for "Alan Flattmann's French Quarter Impressions," a gorgeous, 128-page, full-color volume of artworks by one of the Crescent City's masters of romantic realism.

The beautifully designed book includes Flattmann's varied visions of the Vieux Carre, from earth-toned historic images to contemporary rainbow-hued scenes of the neon-lit Quarter; from stolid antique architecture to frenetic Mardi Gras maskers; from gritty industrial riverscapes to placidly picturesque patios. On page after page, Flattmann communicates the essence of the psychic center of the city in a soft, yet precise style that will bring to mind the relatively hard-edged Impressionism of Degas, Whistler and the Woodward brothers.

Though its reproductions of the luminescent pastels (densely colored drawings made with chalk-like crayons) are well worth the cost of the book, they are rivaled in eloquence by John R. Kemp's beautifully written text, which, in the first chapter, provides a concise, subtly comic overview of the Vieux Carre's history, including gems such as early 19th-century observations that the Quarter was a filthy place. Kemp's social and political history give way, in the second chapter, to Flattmann's personal artistic evolution, particularly his years at The John McCrady Art School on Bourbon Street, an artistically conservative institution that maintained old-fashioned artistic ideals while most of the art world endured wave after wave of modernist convulsions. The McCrady School not only produced Flattmann, but art stars Henri Casselli, Rolland Golden and others (it's time for a major group show of McCrady and his artistic heirs at the Contemporary Arts Center or Ogden Museum).

Despite the undeniable beauty of the Vieux Carre, as an artistic subject it has been an anathema to most painters for the past 60 years. The decidedly 19th-century atmosphere of the Quarter didn't blend well with late 20th-century aesthetics. Plus, most French Quarter-oriented art is produced as souvenirs, not serious artistic expression, further tainting the subject. Even Flattmann, whose career began in the Quarter, resisted creating a comprehensive Vieux Carre series until five years ago.

"I went back and thought to myself," said Flattmann, " ‘If I had never been here before and I was from Europe and had just arrived in New Orleans, this would be the first subject I would paint, so why have I been ignoring it for so long?' "

Flattmann's love of the Quarter is abundantly clear in his work. He sees the Vieux Carre the way Sargent saw "Madame X," as a glowingly sultry seductress. He ignores the tawdriness, pathos and grime that mar the ever-embattled neighborhood in real life -- and who needs to be reminded of tawdriness, pathos and grime?

"Alan Flattmann's French Quarter Impressions" is a serenade to the old Vieux Carre that just may rekindle the latent French Quarter love affair in all of us. An extensive exhibit of Flattmann's French Quarter pastels opens with a reception and book signing at Bryant Gallery on Saturday night.

To order an autographed copy of "Alan Flattmann's French Quarter Impressions" send a check made payable to Alan Flattmann for $40 ($35 for the book and $5 for shipping and handling) to Alan Flattmann, 822 Heather Hollow, Covington, Louisiana 70435