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Julien Hudson (January 9, 1811 – 1844) was a 19th-century
Julien Hudson was born on January 9, 1811, in New Orleans. His father, John Thomas Hudson, was a British ship chandler and ironmonger. His mother, Suzanne Désirée Marcos, was a free New Orleans quadroon.
Hudson's racial identity had been a matter of scrutiny for some years. He is first listed in the city directory in 1838 without the designation of "free man of color." The following year, "f.m.c." was included. Hudson's father apparently did not live with the family after 1822, but his mother had investments in real estate and had a steady income. Hudson may have been educated at home on Bienville Street near Bourbon Street. Within the family, Julien was known by the nickname "Pickil."
After a two-year apprenticeship to tailor Erasme Logoaster in the mid 1820s, Hudson began working with the husband and wife team of miniature painters Antoine Meucci and Nina Meucci at their studio on the corner of Royal and St. Peters Streets. Julien Hudson's apprenticeship with the Meuccis (1826-1827) lasted less than six months, as the Meuccis left New Orleans for Cuba, and later Bogota,
The Historic New Orleans Collection. Hudson's return was most probably prompted by the financial
Selections of nineteenth-century Afro-American Art
an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on Hudson (no. 6) {{DEFAULTSORT:Hudson, Julien 1811 births 1844 deaths 19th-century American painters American male painters Artists from New Orleans Louisiana Creole people African-American painters 19th-century American male artists
free man of color
In the context of the history of slavery in the Americas, free people of color (French: ''gens de couleur libres''; Spanish: ''gente de color libre'') were primarily people of mixed African, European, and Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Na ...
who lived in New Orleans. He was a successful painter and art teacher. He was thought to be the first African American by whom a self-portrait is known, however the Louisiana State Museum refers currently refers to the 1839 oil-on-canvas portrait as ''Portrait of a Man, So-Called Self Portrait''."
Biography
Julien Hudson was born on January 9, 1811, in New Orleans. His father, John Thomas Hudson, was a British ship chandler and ironmonger. His mother, Suzanne Désirée Marcos, was a free New Orleans quadroon.
Hudson's racial identity had been a matter of scrutiny for some years. He is first listed in the city directory in 1838 without the designation of "free man of color." The following year, "f.m.c." was included. Hudson's father apparently did not live with the family after 1822, but his mother had investments in real estate and had a steady income. Hudson may have been educated at home on Bienville Street near Bourbon Street. Within the family, Julien was known by the nickname "Pickil."
After a two-year apprenticeship to tailor Erasme Logoaster in the mid 1820s, Hudson began working with the husband and wife team of miniature painters Antoine Meucci and Nina Meucci at their studio on the corner of Royal and St. Peters Streets. Julien Hudson's apprenticeship with the Meuccis (1826-1827) lasted less than six months, as the Meuccis left New Orleans for Cuba, and later Bogota, Colombia
Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...
. In 1829, Hudson's grandmother, Françoise Leclerc, left him at least $100 of a $7,000 estate that included three slaves. Little is known of Hudson's activities until June 1831, when he advertised in ''The New Orleans Bee
''The New Orleans Bee'' (french: L’Abeille de la Nouvelle-Orléans) was an American broadsheet newspaper in New Orleans, Louisiana, founded on September 1, 1827, by François Delaup and originally located at 94 St. Peter Street, between Royal an ...
'' that he had undergone a "complete course of studies" with Antoine Meucci. In August, Hudson applied for a passport to sail to Liverpool, and by December informed readers of ''The Louisiana Courier'' that he "lately had returned from Paris." With whom he studied during this trip is not known.
Hudson traveled again to Paris to study, presumably with neoclassical painter Alexandre-Denis Abel de Pujol (1785-1861), a student of Jacques-Louis David
Jacques-Louis David (; 30 August 1748 – 29 December 1825) was a French painter in the Neoclassicism, Neoclassical style, considered to be the preeminent painter of the era. In the 1780s, his cerebral brand of history painting marked a change in ...
and winner of the Prix de Rome in 1811. Hudson's second trip may have begun in 1835 and by August 16, 1837, he was back in New Orleans."In Search of Julien Hudson: Free Artist of Color in Pre–Civil War New Orleans".The Historic New Orleans Collection. Hudson's return was most probably prompted by the financial
Panic of 1837
The Panic of 1837 was a financial crisis in the United States that touched off a major depression, which lasted until the mid-1840s. Profits, prices, and wages went down, westward expansion was stalled, unemployment went up, and pessimism abound ...
, which began on May 10, as well as by the death of his sisters.
After returning to New Orleans, Hudson opened his own studio on 120 Bienville Street in 1831, though he appears in city directories as an artist only in the years 1837–1838. For a brief time in 1840, Hudson had a student, George David Coulon
George David Coulon (November 14, 1822 – February 28, 1904) was a French-born artist, born in Seloncourt.
life
When he was ten years old, his family moved to New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. According to Coulon, "as a child, I made drawings and ...
(1822-1904).
Julien Hudson died in 1844 in New Orleans.
References
Biography
* * *External links
Selections of nineteenth-century Afro-American Art
an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on Hudson (no. 6) {{DEFAULTSORT:Hudson, Julien 1811 births 1844 deaths 19th-century American painters American male painters Artists from New Orleans Louisiana Creole people African-American painters 19th-century American male artists