On Today's Date 1843 Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol Was Published
1843 – A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens (pictured), a novella about the miser Ebenezer Scrooge and his conversion after being visited by three Christmas ghosts, was first published.
RIP George Rodrigue, Blue Dog Artist
Source: Chron : TIMES-PICAYUNE (New Orleans) | December 17, 2013
George Rodrigue, a Cajun bricklayer's son whose fanciful painting of a beloved pet became an iconic image that was displayed in advertising campaigns and on the walls of celebrities' homes and the White House, has died.
Rodrique died Saturday at Houston Methodist Hospital after a long battle with cancer. He was 69.
Rodrigue became internationally celebrated and cherished for his Blue Dog paintings, which were inspired by a deceased pet named Tiffany. The blue spaniel-terrier mix, with a white nose and yellow eyes, first appeared in 1984. Since then, it has turned up in advertising campaigns for Absolut Vodka, Neiman Marcus and Xerox Corp.; in posters for the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival; in Harrah's New Orleans casino; and on an apartment wall in the situation comedy "Friends."
Whoopi Goldberg and Tom Brokaw are among the celebrity collectors of Blue Dog art, and Bill Clinton commissioned one for his 1993 presidential inauguration, showing him with Al Gore, who would become his vice president.
Although the Blue Dog paintings may look like nothing more than tributes to a special pooch, they, like Rodrigue's other works, draw on Cajun traditions and folklore, said William Andrews, director of the Ogden Museum of Southern Art. The Blue Dog is a gentle, friendly version of the loup-garou, the werewolf or ghost dog that hides in sugarcane fields and haunts mischievous children.
"The genius of his work is that it always goes back to his Cajun heritage," Andrews said. "He did a wonderful job of leaving a trail of bread crumbs. All of those crumbs will lead you back to his roots. You'll go into the woods and find amazing things there."
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