Charles Locke

Aunt Nellie

circa 1935

Caroline Durieux's image captures a lone figure in her garden in this southern plantation in Louisiana. "Plantation Garden" is a lithograph created by Durieux in 1946 in an edition of 20. It is signed in pencil. Durieux shared her feeling about this piece with these reflections. “The spectrum analysis of satire runs from the red of invective at one end to the violet of the most delicate irony at the other.” David Worcester 16, "The Art of Satire". The feeling expressed in Plantation Garden is that of a dirge with ironic overtones; it is sad, nostalgic yet satirical. The bent figure of the old lady, the ancient trees, the static moss, all seem to belong to the past; even the lady is old. For contrast, a ray of late afternoon sun lights up the only young note in the picture: perennials in the foreground. When “we are satirical and we are friendly at the same time, the consciousness of the friendship gives a regretful and tender touch to the satire, and the sting of the satire makes the friendship a trifle humble and sad.” George Santayna 255, "The Sense of Beauty". This concept of satire mixed with friendship comes closer to humor because there is less censure involved. In "Plantation Garden", the satire is tempered by a feeling of empathy. Caroline Durieux (American, 1896 – 1989) Printmaker, painter, satirist, innovator, social activist, Caroline Durieux was born in New Orleans and was already making sketches by the age of four. Her formal art training was at Newcomb College (1912-1917) and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (1918-1920). Carl Zigrosser of the Philadelphia Museum of Art encouraged Durieux to try lithography. While living in Mexico, she learned lithography from Emilio Amero...

Three native Mexican women all similarly dressed in traditional, flowing white dresses covered in dark, fringed shawls raise their heads as if the...