George Dunbar

George Dunbar. Monumental Deity XX. , 2024 | New Orleans , Material: Bronze , About the Artist: , New Orleans artist George Dunbar (1927-2024) significantly influenced both the local arts community and generations of artists worldwide. As a founder of the storied Orleans Gallery, New Orleans' first contemporary art collective, Dunbar was known for his experimental approach to art. Throughout his career, he continually sought to learn new techniques and worked extensively with both paint and sculpture. Monumental Deity XX exemplifies Dunbar's spirit of innovation. Standing over 14 feet tall, it is the first and only large-scale sculpture created by him during his career. , , According to William Pittman Andrews, The Helis Foundation Executive Director at Ogden Museum of Southern Art, this piece is reminiscent of a fragment of a torso or ancient Greek bust. The essence of these idealized classical forms embodies the artistic search for perfection and symmetry., Dunbar's work is in included in the collections of such esteemed museums as Whitney Museum of American Art, the British Museum, Ogden Museum of Southern Art and the New Orleans Museum of Art. He received the Governor's Lifetime Achievement Award in 2008 for his contributions to art and culture in Louisiana. In 2016, the New Orleans Museum of Art presented a career retrospective titled George Dunbar: Elements of Chance and, in 2022, Ogden Museum of Southern Art presented Dunbar with the Opus Lifetime Achievement Award.