By the mid-1970s George Rodrigue
painted on average forty canvases per year, all scenes of Cajun folk-life
stemming from his first painting with people, Aioli Dinner (1971), while
incorporating the distinctive oak trees from his landscapes. Although
he rented a gallery in Lafayette, Louisiana,
he sold most of his work on the road in Houston, Dallas, Birmingham and other cities, usually from the trunk of his car to collectors he met on referral from restaurants,
banks and jewelry stores.
Following the birth of his son André in 1975, George longed
for new clients without the road trips. He sought gallery representation, but options
were few in those years, especially in the South, and his efforts in New
Orleans, with the exception of a short stint at the Reilly Gallery, proved
unsuccessful.
-click photo to enlarge-
(pictured, George Rodrigue with his son André, 1984, Lafayette, Louisiana, featuring Rodrigue's Mamou Mardi Gras and his books, including The Cajuns of George Rodrigue; click photo to enlarge-)
Out of nowhere, opportunity knocked.
Oxmoor House, publisher of Southern Living Magazine, approached George
about a book. Based in Birmingham, Alabama, they knew his paintings and envisioned
the work in a large coffee table-type format, linking it to their 1974
publication, Jericho: The South Beheld, by James Dickey and Hubert
Shuptrine, a book hailed as a southern publishing phenomenon.
Despite the obstacles, George jumped
at the chance. According to his
contract, he would write the text, provide transparencies of his artwork, and
commit to $75,000 in book purchases.
He learned quickly that books, especially art books, rarely generate
profit for the author/artist. He
also learned, however, that books sell paintings.
He signed the contract late on the
Friday afternoon of a holiday weekend.
With $400 in the bank,
he wrote a hot check to Oxmoor House and spent the weekend knocking on
doors, paintings in hand. In three days, using his hometown connections, he made some of the money and borrowed most
of it, covering the check.
It was a long shot, typical of
George, the type of challenge he relishes, no different than raising his
Jefferson Street house to build a gallery underneath, purchasing a building
adjacent to St. Louis Cathedral, or for that matter shifting from Cajuns to Blue Dogs.
“Anytime I’m broke or in trouble,” laughs George, “I buy a car. Once I figure out how to pay for it, the rest of my problems work themselves out.”
(pictured, Rodrigue holds the brochure, still in his possession, of his first dream car, the Lincoln Mark V; he removed the back seat and used the additional trunk space to transport paintings to clients)
(pictured, following his recent health problems, Rodrigue purchased his current dream car, a Mercedes gull-wing, in September 2012)
George wrote the book the following
week, hiring a translator for the French text, printed alongside the English.
The large format features more than one hundred paintings with George’s
detailed descriptions. The Cajuns of George Rodrigue (1976) was the first
book published nationally on the Cajun culture and the first bilingual American
book ever printed.
The book caught the
eye of the Director of the National Endowment for the Arts who showed it to First Lady Rosalynn Carter. Mrs. Carter chose the book as an official White House
Gift of State during President Carter’s administration. The
Cajuns of George Rodrigue also made the Top 10 Best Southern Book List of
1976.
Pictured, The Cajuns of George Rodrigue includes classic paintings such as the Aioli Dinner on its cover, as well as ...
-click photos to enlarge-
...Iry Lejeune (1972), detailed here-
...Jolie Blonde (1974), detailed here-
...Mamou Riding Academy (1971), detailed here-
George was ecstatic. The Cajuns’ accolades elevated his
resume. But the $75,000 presented a problem. At the time his paintings
sold on average for between $500 and $5000, and the short-term sales couldn’t
possibly cover his debt. He devised a plan.
In exchange for his investment,
Oxmoor House sent George his share of the books. However, selling them was difficult. In pre-internet 1976 only six
bookstores existed in the state of Louisiana. And think about this ---- 2,500 large-scale hardcover books
weighing four pounds each, delivered to his house on wooden pallets by a
semi-truck. It was daunting.
However, George Rodrigue is creative
in all things, and he relished this challenge. He secured a mailing list for
every French teacher in the United States and offered The Cajuns at $15, discounted from the $24.95 list price. He recruited friends to package the
books and process the payments. Within days, the orders poured in.
Simultaneously, area banks sold the
books alongside their teller windows, offering a special price for customers
opening new checking accounts.
Within two months George repaid his
loans. Within six months he felt the book’s long-term effect on his painting
sales as it impressed potential buyers.
He broke his own sales records and, unable to meet demand, raised prices.
In addition, as a direct result of The Cajuns, George painted in 1976 a
gift from the State of Louisiana to the President of France, Valéry Giscard
d’Estaing, increasing Rodrigue’s reputation internationally, especially on the
heels of his Paris Le Salon award of 1974 (story here).
-click photo to enlarge-
(pictured, George Rodrigue with
French President d’Estaing and former U.S. Congressman James Domengeaux, President of the Council for the Development of French in Louisiana (CODOFIL); more here-)
Most important, The Cajuns of
George Rodrigue taught the artist the power of publishing. It was books that
would sell his paintings; it was books that would make him famous.
Wendy
The story about the French teachers is the most compelling tale ever to come before this reader's wide eyes. George would have made it on merit, yes, but who knew someone so right-brained could be such a sly marketer?!
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