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Bohemian Rhapsody
Loujon Press exhibition explores the work and world of artist Noel Rockmore
Above: Longtime friends Gypsy Lou Webb and Noel Rockmore appear in the 1980photograph Tenants Anyone? by Johnny Donnels. (The Historic New Orleans Collection, gift of Joan T. Donnels, 2010.0068.1.2)
Left: In Homage to the French Quarter (1969/1970/1975), Noel Rockmore places himself (right) and Gypsy Lou Webb (left) in the foreground ofa crowded tableau of downtown personalities. Among those depicted are artists Charles Richards and Andy Lang, restaurant and bar owners Johnny White and Sonny Vaucresson, and French Quarter eccentrics Ruthie the Duck Girl and Sister Gertrude Morgan. The piece took Rockmore many years to finish and was a longtime fixture at Johnny White’s bar until it was sold and put up for auction in 2007. (Courtesy ofJoAnn Clevenger, Upperline Restaurant New Orleans, LI-000166.1)
Starting in the 1920s, the French Quarter’s beauty, history, and low rent attracted many artists, writers, and musicians from across the country who were looking for inspiration on the cheap. By the time Jon and Gypsy Lou Webb founded Loujon Press in their French Quarter apartment in 1960, the Vieux Carre was a bustling neighborhood with a vibrant mix of bohemian and working class folk. One of the most
unique artists to come out of this period was Noel Rockmore, a friend of the Webbs who produced work for several Loujon publications. Five of his paintings and several of his Loujon etchings and illustrations are featured in Alternative Imprints.
Noel Rockmore (1928-1995) was born in New York City, the son of illustrator Floyd MacMillan Davis and painter Gladys Rockmore Davis. Floyd, who was recognized in 1943 by Life
magazine as the number-one illustrator of the period, and Gladys, who won prizes from several leading US museums, encouraged Noel to play the violin as a child. He attended Juilliard and also learned to play piano, guitar, and banjo, but a bout of polio at age 11 left him confined to bed, where he began drawing—an activity that would take over his life.
After forging a promising career in New York—financier Joseph Hirshhorn
10 Volume XXX, Number 4 — Fall 2013