Josephine Crawford

Josephine Marien Crawford (December 31, 1878 – March 24, 1952) was an American painter, born into an old, aristocratic family in New Orleans, Louisiana. Along with Paul Ninas and Will Henry Stevens, she has been credited with introducing modernism to New Orleans.

Life and career Crawford was the sixth of nine children of Charles Campbell Crawford and Louise Bienvenu Crawford, and grew up speaking English and French; through her mother she was descended from the Bienvenus, who had settled in Louisiana in the eighteenth century. which further informed her sensibilities. She would return to Biloxi throughout her life. She traveled widely throughout her life, and is known to have visited much of Europe, Central America, and Mexico at various times. Following their discovery, many of these works were given permanent mountings and presented to the public for the first time. In the 1940s, however, she was forced to leave after developing cancer; she then moved in with a sister in the Garden District.

Work Crawford's style, rather than being grounded in realism, bordered on the abstract, in contrast to the Impressionism-derived style which was prominent in New Orleans for much of her early life. Characteristically her palette is muted, lending a quiet quality to her work.

Morris Museum of Art, Augusta, Georgia Historic New Orleans Collection