page_title: Gustave Blache III
section_title: Leah Chase
hierarchical_section_title: Gustave Blache III / Career / Leah Chase
caption_attribution_description: English: Gustave Blache III, Cutting Squash, 2010, oil on wood, 8 x 10.25 inches, National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC.
context_page_description: Gustave Blache III is an American figurative artist from New Orleans, Louisiana, currently residing in Brooklyn, New York. He is best known for his works in series that highlight the process and unique labors of everyday society.
context_section_description: From April 24, 2012 to September 16, 2012, the New Orleans Museum of Art exhibited Blache's most notable series up to date, Leah Chase: Paintings by Gustave Blache III. The exhibition documented national culinary star chef Leah Chase in the kitchen and the dining room in one of New Orleans’ most famous restaurants, Dooky Chase Restaurant.
  Blache was introduced to the idea of painting Leah Chase by his art representative at the time Eugene C. Daymude in the summer of 2009. The 20 small oil paintings that comprised the series detailed the day-to-day activities 92-year-old Chef Leah Chase encounters from early morning prep work to greeting guests in the dining room.  Blache was heralded for his depiction of the culinary icon for his accuracy and delicate handling of paint, color, and texture.  “Asked whether she thought the rendering was accurate, Chase, 89, said the young artist had gotten it right.  “I told him, ‘You could have made me look like Halle Berry or Lena Horne, but you made it look like me,’” she said.  The painting Cutting Squash was acquired for its permanent collection by the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery in 2011.  “We are always looking for portraits of nationally prominent figures,” National Portrait Gallery chief curator Brandon Fortune said.  “It is a very interesting image of a woman at work, doing a very simple task, cutting squash,” . . . “But in some ways it transcends the everyday and becomes something of national significance.”  This series reinforces Blache's commitment to documenting everyday labor and showcasing these intimate processes to the public.  Another one of the Smithsonian Institution Museums, National Museum of African History and Culture, came calling for another painting of Chase from the Blache series in 2013 and acquired Leah Red Coat Stirring (Sketch) in 2013, making it the third painting from Blache to be included in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian Institution.
caption: Gustave Blache III, Cutting Squash, 2010, oil on wood, 8 x 10.25 inches, National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC.
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