George Dureau was born on December 28, 1930. He attended Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, where he earned a Bachelor’s degree in fine arts in 1952. After serving in the US Army, he briefly enrolled at Tulane University in New Orleans, where he concentrated on architecture.
Known as a painter who first turned to photography in order to create studies for his canvases, George Dureau is now best remembered for his arresting, intimate portraits with the camera. A cult figure who was well-known in his hometown of New Orleans, he is often credited for influencing Robert Mapplethorpe, who collected his work.
In 2011, the Ogden Museum of Southern Art mounted a major Dureau retrospective titled “George Dureau: Paintings, Drawings & Photographs.”