French Colours
Cover Artist Jacques Soulas
FOR JACQUES SOULAS, art is almost like an impulse, an urge. “If I don’t do it for a while, I become restless,” he says. He started practicing art at a young age, about 8 or so, in public school in France. He became immersed in French art in middle and high school, where his classes would visit art museums in Paris. One of the first exhibits that fascinated him was a retrospective of Vincent van Gogh at l ‘Orangerie in Paris. “I was absolutely blown away by his use of such bold color, especially the color yellow, of which I consider him to be a master.” During this time, he also was able to visit the Rodin Museum in Meudon; see the first retrospective in France of Georges Latour, 20th-century artist Georges Rouault; and 8
I n side N ew Orl ea n s
many others. “All this art made a deep impression on me and all I could think was: ‘I want to do that!’” Inspired, he joined a pottery club in his free time in middle school, and by the time he was 18, he was taking night art classes offered by the city of Paris. At these classes, he experimented with live model drawing, watercolor, and basic architectural rendering. Upon arriving in New Orleans in 1979, he enrolled in the John McCrady Art School while working as a waiter at Cafe Du Monde. He moved to the New Orleans Academy of Fine Arts in 1982, where he studied under Auseklis Ozols, and stayed there while working as a waiter until 1993. Though it’s hard for him to place a
photos: JEFF STROUT
by Sarah Spencer
