The LSU Museum of Art celebrated the works of former University professor Caroline Durieux by putting on a Hat Day on Saturday and Sunday.
Any patron wearing a unique hat received free admission into the exhibit.
“In many works, Durieux poked fun at ladies hairstyles, eyeglasses, shoes, dresses and hats,” said Natalie Mault, LSU Museum of Art curator. “By inviting hat-wearing visitors into the museum, not only is it a fun way to feel like a part of the museum and a part of the exhibition, but it will hopefully get people talking about the satire in Durieux’s works.”
Many of Durieux’s works use humor to point out the quirks she noticed in her surroundings in the 1930s and 1940s. Her skill in portraying these quirks makes her work relevant today, Mault said.
“For me, the most interesting hat in Durieux’s work is the hat in the lithograph ‘Taxidermy,'” Mault said. “In the work, a stuffed bird on the lady’s hat has characteristics similar to that of the lady herself, suggesting that the two are one and the same. The humor is subtle, but truly quite clever.”
Durieux, a New Orleans native, accepted a teaching position in the 1940s at the University’s School of Art, Mault said.
“[Durieux] received several grants from the University that allowed her to create a method of printmaking known as electron printing, which incorporated radioactive materials,” Mault said. “It was also while at LSU that she discovered the way to take a decades-old method of printmaking, cliche verre, and produce these prints in color. This is a form of printmaking that continues to be popular with artists today.”
Durieux completed her master’s thesis on the characteristics of satire not long after receiving her position at the University, Mault said.
“The LSU Museum of Art chose to have a Hat Day weekend event as a way to invite visitors into the museum for free,” Mault said. “It is a fun way of exploring the museum and discovering the incredible exhibition, ‘Caroline Durieux: A Radioactive Wit.'”