Noel Rockmore (December 15, 1928 – February 19, 1995) was born Noel Montgomery Davis to his mother, Gladys Rockmore Davis, and his father, Floyd Davis, in New York City.Rockmore, Noel, The World of Noel Rockmore, Published by Greer Gallery, New York, 1967, Rockmore was an American painter, draughtsman, and sculptor. He claimed to have produced more than 15,000 works of art in his lifetime.Lutter, Neil, "Rockmore's diverse art defies definition", news article published by Clarion Ledger - Jackson, MS, January 14, 1990 He is known for his portraits, his early rise to fame, his Preservation Hall portraits, and for changing his name at the height of the popularity he had developed in New York City. He had a daughter, Emilie Rhys.
Noel painted in a realistic and old masters style throughout his childhood and adolescence. He experimented with different artistic theories, techniques, and ideas in the New York art world of the 1950s.
As the abstract expressionist movement gained momentum, Rockmore left New York and went to New Orleans, where he changed his name from Noel Davis to Noel Rockmore, adopting the surname of his mother. He spent the next 20 years commuting between New Orleans and New York City while various dealers tried unsuccessfully to manage him and his often volatile career.
1928-47: Early life Noel Davis grew up in New York City, the son of a painter, Gladys Rockmore Davis.Watson, Ernest, Gladys Rockmore Davis - Her Adventure in Pastel, American Artist February 1942, Published by Watson-Guptill Publications, PA, 1942 His father, Floyd Davis was recognized in 1943 by Life Magazine as illustrator of the year.Paxton, Worthen, Gladys Rockmore Davis, Pg.44 Life Magazine April 19, 1943, Vol 14, NO. 16 Noel's younger sister, Deborah Davis, was born in 1930.
The Art of Noel Rockmore and His daughter Emilie Rhys The Art of Noel Rockmore and Emilie Rhys had its grand opening on January 30, 2020, and was on display through September 1. The late Noel Rockmore and his daughter Emilie Rhys have used their unique vision not only to paint musicians but also to reveal their unique personalities and their ways of approaching and making music. The exhibit will explore music in New Orleans as seen through the artistic eye of Mr. Rockmore in the 1960s and 1970s and Ms. Rhys in the past decade. An exhibit pairs them together for the first time at the Museum which has an extensive collection of early jazz artifacts throughout the building.
Noel began taking violin lessons at the age of 5. He also learned piano and guitar. In 1935, while both he and his sister were struggling with polio, Noel turned to painting as an artistic outlet. He attended Juilliard, where he learned to play violin.
In the early 1940s, while his parents covered World War II as art correspondents for Life magazine, Noel attended Putney School in Vermont, where he graduated in 1947. He also attended the Art Student League of New York with Julian E. Levi.Feigenbaum, Gail, Noel Rockmore - Fantasies and Realities, Published by the New Orleans Museum of Art, 1998,
1948-50: Career beginnings In 1948, when Rockmore was 19, Joseph Hirshhorn became his first major patron. He was encouraged by Henry Francis Taylor, director at the Metropolitan Museum and became acquaintanced with Raphael Soyer, John Koch, and Yasuo Kuniyoshi. His first studio was in the Cooper Union Complex in New York City, where he painted the street people of the Bowery.
He painted animals from The Museum of Natural History and in 1950 he painted scenes from the Ringling Brothers Circus. Coney Island, Fire Island, and Central Park. Xavier Gonzalez, Jack Levine, and Fletcher Martin all encouraged Noel Davis to ignore the art fads of the time, including abstract expressionism, and persevere in his own unique direction.
1951-58: Married life and career On June 20, 1951, Noel Davis married Elizabeth Hunter in New York City.New York Times Wedding Announcements, "Elizabeth Hunter Married in Chapel", Published by The New York Times, June 21, 1951 On their honeymoon in Valles, Mexico, his car hit a cow and was demolished. Upon the couple's return to New York, they settled into the typical life of a young married couple, in the "Des Artistes" building on the West Side.Rockmore, Noel & Borenstien, Larry, Rockmore Biography, Manuscript written March 15, 1973, on web at www.rockmore.org
He began showing his works at the Harry Salpeter Gallery. He did two Life Magazine commissions and was invited to join the National Academy of Design. He was in group exhibitions at the Metropolitan Museum, Whitney Museum, Museum of Modern Art, and The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. He won the Hallgarten Prize, the Tiffany Fellowship (twice: 1956 & 1963), and The Wallace Truman Prize.
In 1958, Joseph Hirshhorn purchased an additional eight Noel Davis paintings, bringing his total to 16 for the Hirshhorn Museum. He had a one-man show at the Salpeter Gallery in New York and the Butler Institute of American Art in Ohio. Later that year he moved to Brooklyn Heights as his marriage dissolved as well as his relationship with Harry Salpeter. Upon leaving his wife and children, he moved to Coney Island, and then Xavier Gonzalez arranged for him to obtain a studio in the house of New Orleans painter Paul Ninas, where, according to Davis, he could "dwell in creative obscurity".Salpeter, Harry, "Harry Salpeter Diaries", Archives of American Art Microfilm, Reels 690-691, 1956-60
1959-60: Journey to New Orleans While in New Orleans, Noel Davis decided to legally change his name to Noel Rockmore, adopting his mother's maiden name. This caused controversy, as it was unheard of for a major recognized artist to change his name at such a point in his career. He was banned from the Hirshhorn Museum when he was caught there changing his name from Davis to Rockmore on one of his works. He was also accused of defacing a major work at a museum in New York (possibly a Jackson Pollock).
Once in New Orleans, he met E. Lorenz Borenstein, gallery owner, Pre-Columbian artifact dealer, Preservation Hall co-founder, and real-estate entrepreneur. He also met Bill Russell, composer, jazz historian, and New Orleans merchant and they began a lifelong friendship that would be punctuated by Rockmore's depiction of Bill in numerous paintings and watercolors throughout his life. While in New Orleans, Rockmore found a new list of patrons that truly admired his work including Shirley Marvin and the Faubles who would become his patrons for life.
Rockmore spent 1959-1960 painting New Orleans, specifically the French Quarter. Paul Ninas, Rockmore's landlord writes a letter to Salpeter in New York reporting that Rockmore is cavorting with young female companions, wearing western boots and tight jeans, using Castor oil in his hair and drinking for days on end.
1961-63: Return to New York Rockmore returned to New York and his arrangement with Harry Salpeter was slowly dissolved. In 1961, he began to exhibit his work with Greer Gallery, which offered him greater exposure.
1963-65: New Orleans - Preservation Hall years Upon Rockmore's return to New Orleans, Borenstein had found a young couple, Sandra and Allan Jaffe, who had turned Preservation Hall into a going concern featuring old jazz musicians.Carter, William, Preservation Hall - Music from the Heart, Published by W.W. Norton Co., New York, 1991 Borenstein commissioned Rockmore to document all of these musicians as fast as he can. Rockmore responded with 300 oil portraits and over 500 small acrylics in less than two years. The portraits included the following jazz musicians: Billie & DeDe Pierce, George Lewis, Odetta, Dizzy Gillespie, Jim Robinson, Cie Frazier, Louis Nelson, Punch Miller, Oscar Chicken Henry, Kid Thomas Valentine, Joe Robichaux, Narvin Kimball, Danny Barker, Alcide Pavageau, Kid Sheik Cola, Percy Humphrey, Willie Humphrey, and Emma Barrett (Sweet Emma the Bell Gal) to name a few.Rockmore, Noel & Borenstien, Larry, & Russell, Bill, Preservation Hall Portraits, Published by LSU Press, Baton Rouge, 1968
Rockmore worked with a framer, Bruce Brice, whom he mentored and encouraged on his career path, and who eventually became a respected American folk artist.Mitchell, Patricia, Bruce Brice: The Today Show via Jackson Square, The Community Standard magazine, French Quarter, New Orleans, Volume 1, No. 2, December 1974 Rockmore, Borenstein and Bill Russell collaborate on a book, Preservation Hall Portraits, which featured Rockmore's works and was published in 1968. After 1965, much to Borenstein's disappointment, Rockmore chose to do new series including shipyards and construction sites.Marvin, Shirley, Letters and Diaries: The Rockmore Collection, Unpublished, transcribed by The Noel Rockmore Project, 2010
In 1965, another relationship was formed with Jon and Gypsy Lou Webb, publishers of The Outsider, featuring Charles Bukowski. Their company, Lou-Jon Press published Crucifix in a Death Hand featuring Bukowski's poetry and Rockmore's art.Bukowski, Charles, Crucifix in a Death Hand, published by Lou Jon Press, New Orleans, 1965
In 1963, Rockmore created a series of works based on his travels in Mexico, and in 1965, he did the same concerning his travels to Morocco. In 1964, he won a Ford Foundation Award that resulted in a show at the Swope Art Museum in Terre Haute, Indiana, where he was artist-in-residence.
1965-69: New York, New Orleans, and San Francisco In late 1966, Rockmore's father Floyd Davis died; shortly thereafter in early 1967, his mother Gladys Rockmore Davis died as well.The New York Times, obituaries Rockmore retreated to San Francisco to be with his sister Deborah, painting San Francisco and Haight-Ashbury as well as Eldridge Cleaver, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, and Allen Ginsberg.
In 1967, Luba and Victor Potamkin, a Cadillac dealer from New York, and Sergio Franchi, world-famous tenor, decided that they would manage Rockmore. They arranged for his biggest show ever, set to take place in New York City in November 1967 at Greer Gallery. The big opening was completely shut down by an anti-war riot at the New York Hilton where Dean Rusk was to speak.
In early 1968, Potamkin and Franchi sent Rockmore to Israel to produce a series for his next big show. The works captured much of the tension and anguish in Israel at the time, and a show is held at the Crane Korchin Gallery in PA in May.
Rockmore also painted a portrait of the writer Henry Miller for a Lou-Jon press book which was rejected when the Borenstein negotiation with Lou-Jon goes bad. In early 1969 Rockmore parted ways with Potamkin and Franchi and returned to San Francisco to visit his sister and paint a new series.
1969–73: Return to New Orleans and Jazzfest At the end of 1969, Rockmore returned to New Orleans and reunited with Larry Borenstein, who got him a commission from George Wein to create posters for sale to commemorate the very first New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival (Jazz Fest). Rockmore was also included by Wein on the inaugural Jazz Fest committee and commissioned to do a watercolor series of the event.Wein, George, Myself Among Others: A Life in Music, Published by Da Capo Press, Cambridge, MA, 2003
The first two New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festivals in 1970 and 1971 were held in Louis Armstrong Park, then known as Beauregard Square, in the area of the park known to be the historic Congo Square and the adjoining New Orleans Municipal Auditorium. Artist Noel Rockmore and Bruce Brice did posters for the first New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festivals in 1970.
At that time, Rockmore began a relationship with folk artist Sister Gertrude Morgan and painted and worked with her throughout 1970. He embraced and painted many famous characters from the French quarter, including Mike Stark and his Free Head Clinic, Ruthie the Duck Girl, the jazz musicians Bill Russell and Gypsy Lou, and his new girlfriend Riva Segall.