JEAN SEIDENBERG (American 1930-2022)

Amanda Winstead Fine Art is pleased to announce our representation of the Estate of Jean Seidenberg (1930-2022).  Seidenberg was one of the founders of the Orleans Gallery in 1956, an artist cooperative located at 527 Royal Street which became the center of the contemporary art world in New Orleans and laid the ground work for the vibrant art and gallery scene that currently exists. We are pleased to present a collection of bronze sculptures and prints from Seidenberg’s Orleans Gallery period. 

Jean Seidenberg grew up surrounded by the creative culture of New York City choosing to pursue art at a young age. In his teen years, he honed his skills through winning scholarships to renowned institutions like the Brooklyn Museum Art School, New York City Art League, and the Museum of Modern Art School before finally graduating from Syracuse University College of Art in 1948. After school he stayed in the Northeast beginning to refine his practice before moving to New Orleans in 1951. 

In New Orleans, Seidenberg’s career flourished. Considered a classic figurative painter, the city provided no shortage of subjects for him given its extremely sociable and fun loving nature. It also fostered a lively culture of young artists eager to share their various art forms with each other. Seidenberg and six other artists created the Orleans Gallery in 1956, an artist cooperative and gallery, a cutting-edge concept at the time. The following year he took a position teaching photography at Newcomb College, cultivating the next generation of artists.

In 1963 Seidenberg turned his attention away from painting to sculpture, opening his first foundry in 1963, marking the start of a major life change. Describing this shift as a "practical decision to support my family," (pg 4) his practice focused on bronze casting. Producing large scale projects, often collaborating with architects for the city of New Orleans on public installations, as well as smaller abstract work. The foundry took on a social aspect in Seidenberg's life, serving as another gathering place for artists. His sculptural work still kept to his core subject matter of the human form, however this time it was abstract and exotic in nature. 

During this time Seidenberg returned to academia as a visiting professor in sculpture at the summer session for Southampton College (1971) and Florida State University, Tallahassee (1972-73). However, in 1973, he decided to take a step back from the artworld focusing his interests on real estate before returning to his art practice a decade later. Seidenberg continued to capture the New Orleans social scene through figurative paintings and drawing until his death in 2022.

The evolution of Seidenberg’s career in paintings and bronzes can be found in many prominent institutions throughout the South including the New Orleans Museum of Art, The Historic New Orleans Collection, Ogden Museum of Southern Art, McKenna Museum of African American Art, LSU Museum of Art, Alexandria Museum of art, Arkansas Museum of Fine Art, and Morris Museum of Art amongst others. 

Reference: Seidenberg, Jean, Jean Seidenberg: Paintings, Drawings, Sculpture, New Orleans: Silkmount & Count and LEH, 2009.

Prints

Pencil-signed lithographs

Bronzes

Patinated bronzes 

Paintings

Oil on canvas