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#597 Done with Mary May on Levee |
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Mary May 1970 |
Mary May is a known underage Rockmore girlfriend and declined to be interviewed saying that she enjoyed her time with Rockmore but has moved on and does not feel revisiting it would be beneficial to where she is now in life. Rockmore also did not do many completely relaxed works of the levee with the Mississippi flowing by and the big ships. This is one of those RARE works and he dedicates it to Mary May at what was to be the end of their relationship. Rockmore would soon be documenting Sister Gertrude and the first Jazzfest within the month.
 | | #805 New Orleans Patio |
 The French Quarter and New Orleans are known for their beautiful patios which are included in many homes and some have been converted to well known fine restaurants. This work captures such a place and is SPECIAL because Rockmore did not often capture patios at the QUALITY level of this one. The big arches, the trees, the waiters and the cobblestone and of course all of the folks engaged in a lively scene. All besides the man to the far right which is how Rockmore liked to depict himself as an old man. The techniques that Rockmore uses to capture all of the action including the cross hatch, the scribble faces, the emotion and activity is the master artist at his finest. What better way to capture the spirit of New Orleans and the Mardi Gras season than by owning a SPECIAL QUALITY FRAMED Rockmore work of a real New Orleans patio in 1972.
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#1272 Pump Rock |
 Rockmore was always intrigued by city planning and how the systems worked. This work involves some type of machine that has tubes coming in and out of it and many are from the ground. There are also all sorts of little figures that Rockmore liked to include as well as a central figure in green right in the middle of the work. We know he started it in November 89 when he was just finishing his grid series and he revisits it 2 months later right before he starts his Egyptian drawings.That is all the clues we have so far to go on in this mystery work with the UNUSUAL title. We have discovered that the curators are particularly attracted to these types of works that seem to give insight into the complicated mind of the artist.
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#510 Study for Patio No 2 |
 Noel Rockmore's was certainly doing his art at the height of the "psychedelic 60s" and The Patio series would be without question one of the Major Masterpieces of that time period. This is a detailed watercolor and pen sketch of a close to final version of that work. Rockmore thought enough of it that he kept it for over three years which accounts for the worn look and discoloration. On the back of this work are personal budget notes that Rockmore kept detailing how much he would be making so far in 1969. The final version of The Patio No. 1 is now a part of the LongwoodCenter for the Visual Arts Collection. The Final Version of Patio #2 is owned by a private collector and you can see Ma cat has been replaced by a pot of cactus plants.
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#357-Artist & Beach Crowd with flamingo |
 Rockmore visited his sister in San Francisco in 1967 shortly after the death of both of his parents. He had a rendezvous with his girlfriend from Louisiana that was not allowed to see him and he took a trip with her to Laguna Beach during this time. Rockmore liked to include himself in his works and used the TopHat to let you know which character he was in any given work. There is also another Rockmore favorite character included in this work which is the little boy looking up at the artist in the bottom center of the work. Rockmore would revisit this pink flamingo theme on his return in 1984 to the California coast in MillValley.
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#506 Figure Affected by Living in the City |
 Rockmore returned to New York in 1969 after a second major trip to San Francisco to be with his sister. At this time, his relationship with Victor Potamkin in New York was completely over and he was no longer represented in the Greer Gallery as well. He longed for New Orleans and a return to the freedom of living in the French Quarter and all of his friends he had left there. Rockmore liked to include himself in his works and used the TopHat to identify himself. This one takes on a greater meaning because he lets us know that this "figure has been affected by living in the city" and within the month Rockmore will have returned to his beloved New Orleans.
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#226 French Quarter Street Scene- |
Noel Rockmore was a creature of habit and location when it came to his favorite bars and neighborhoods. Rockmore had 3 or 4 favorite places in a 3 block radius where everyone knew him as a regular patron and character.The figure on the far right is a recurring figure looking up in many of Rockmore's works. Next to him is a man holding up a man who appears to have had too much to drink. The rest of the figures are engaged with each other in a typical outdoor scene and they appear to be assembled and waiting in some type of order. The guess would be they are waiting to get into a place like Preservation Hall which is where some of the scenes in the sketchbook take place. The horse post and the anatomically correct dog are features of New Orleans not often depicted by Rockmore in his works. The signature with the loopy circle is also different than most of his signatures.
The end.
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