French Quarter (1954)

In November I opened a trunk that had been stored for decades and found a few sketchbooks that had probably last been opened in the 1960s. I was especially taken by two paintings, so I snipped them out and had this one framed.

New Orleans’ French Quarter (or Vieux Carré) was an easily accessible site offering ample material for an artist. Byron painted there frequently throughout his life until 2005, when Hurricane Katrina disrupted his life. A New Orleanean would intuitively read “Jax Brewery” into the lettering on the one building; I am not New Orleanean enough to decipher the other advertising banner (but these are not graffiti!).