The works in Leah Chase: Paintings by Gustave Blache III, which feature the Dooky Chase Restaurant series, are the core of the exhibition at the New Orleans Museum of Art, April - September 2012 Cutting Squash, 2010, reproduced in the exhibition catalogue, is a recent acquisition of the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC Dooky Chase Restaurant is one of the cultural icons of cuisine across the world. I felt that if I could show the public the behind-the-scenes aspect of the hard work that Mrs. Chase and her staff do for our enjoyment, then my ultimate goal for this series has been achieved. Gustave Blache III Raised and educated in New Orleans, painter Gustave Blache III brings a fundamental and indigenous understanding to his depiction of world-renowned chef Leah Chase at work in her equally legendary establishment Dooky Chase's Restaurant, in New Orleans' 5th Ward. In addition to authentic Creole cuisine, the restaurant is also home to an extensive display of African American art, collected by Leah Chase beginning in the late 1970s and continuing to this day.
Perceptive and knowledgeable essays explain Blache's process and technique behind the portrayal of everyday, quotidian tasks carried out in the kitchen by 89-year-old Leah Chase, the consummate and award-winning 'Queen of Creole Cuisine.' Blache graduated from the School of Visual Arts in Savannah, earned an MFA from the School of Visual Arts in New York, and has exhibited alongside works by Edgar Degas, Mary Cassatt, Reginald Marsh, Willem de Kooning, and Jasper Johns, among others. Contents: Preface Foreword: Picturing the Process - Miranda Lash Introduction - Michael Quick Leah Chase - A.P. Tureaud, Jr. Leah Chase and the Arts - E. John Bullard Gustave Blache III and the Visual Essay - Richard Anthony Lewis Catalogue Chronology Selected Exhibitions Bibliography List of Lenders