Paul Arthur Dufour

Article in INregister

"I am complete space.
In order to identify myself I have to find my limit through form.
The mark I make only serves to outline and never outlive a time void.
A sense of needing a focus of form
Allows me to be
– this being you now understand –
but never the space."

A major inspiration and supporter of my career is my grandfather. I just discovered an article about him-

Article

I will also link to my personal family oriented blog, where I included more about him-

PAD

Paul Dufour (1922 - 2008)
Baton Rouge mourns the loss of a legend


By Jason Andreasen

All too often, certain words are used with a frequency that diminishes their impact, rendering them effectively impotent. Titles such as “visionary,” “genius” and even “educator” have fallen victim to such fate to varying degrees. Such is not the case when these characterizations are applied to the late Paul Arthur Dufour.

Sadly, with his wife of 59 years and his family by his side, Dufour passed away peacefully on Saturday, September 6 due to complications of pneumonia.

Many live to see the 86th celebration of their birth, but few fill the days in between with as much as Dufour had. Dufour was a veteran of World War II, a father, a husband, an educator and, what most likely recognize him for, an artist. However, this is only part of why his passing finds Baton Rouge in a state of mourning.

Dufour’s childhood was spent in New Hampshire while his early adulthood was capped with the adornment of a World War II Victory Medal. Following his service to the United States Navy, Dufour pursued the arts at Yale University and, in 1959, joined LSU’s painting faculty. As Samuel J. Corso, his student and eventual business partner, explained, Dufour’s time as an educator would not only affect the students who had the privilege of his teachings, but helped define the teacher as well.

“He was a very unselfish and insufferable educator,” said Corso with a chuckle. “If I had to characterize one quality; beyond his magnificent talent and his brilliant mind, he really cared about education, giving everything he could to his students and helping them really develop their own idiom. Those of us who have continued – professionally – are very individual and Paul encouraged that. He promoted self-expression. He didn’t want us to look like him.”
As Corso explained while standing in a hallway displaying both his and Dufour’s vividly colorful works, Dufour’s first commission to design stained glass windows came prior to his ever truly having worked in the medium. This commission would not only shape his life’s artistic direction but lead to something that, at one point, would be the only of its kind.

“He called around to different glass companies and studios that did liturgical stained glass windows, which are standard and can be ordered out of a catalog. He asked them how to [complete a stained glass work] and they said no. He said, ‘Well, I’m gonna learn and I’m going to teach my students,’” said Corso.

This single telephone call resulted in a program that offered both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in stained glass, something shared by a single school in England. After the Royal Academy of London closed its program, the stained glass program Dufour introduced to LSU was the only one in the world, attracting students the world over.

Although Dufour’s work can be found in collections as far-reaching as Japan, his signature is most notably found throughout Baton Rouge. He was a founding member of Baton Rouge Gallery, Inc. and his work in the liturgical arts can be seen at local churches such as Christ the King Catholic Church on LSU’s campus and St. Aloysius. During his career, Dufour also won a host of awards, including the 1999 Governor’s Award for Outstanding Lifetime Contributions to the Arts.

In 2002, Kristin Malia Krolak, who now serves as Gallery Coordinator for LSU’s School of Art, was so moved by his work that she made it the subject of her graduate thesis. Titled, “Collecting Raindrops: Investigating Multiplicity in the Work of Paul Arthur Dufour,” the paper’s abstract included the following:

“In Paul Dufour’s art, the more you look, the more you see. Multiplicity is the key for understanding the career of Paul Dufour because it illuminates perhaps one of the only conceptual links that is present in all of his pieces.”

In the wake of Dufour’s passing, Krolak explained, “Personally, he was a treasure and inspiration in my life and I will always be grateful for the conversations and hugs we shared. I will think of Paul whenever I see sunlight shining through my window. He was our beam of light and his spirit will always be with us in our memories, hearts and in every sparkling, sunlit morning.”
Paul Dufour touched the lives of so many in our community and around the world, though surely none could have put it better than his son, Paulo Dufour:

“Paul Dufour shot his arrow into the sun and it rained down in our soul. Every piece of art Paul made that I ever really had a conversation with – which is what he believed you did when viewing art – had the ability to transform me into a manifestation of my deeper humanity. It is magic after all and not material. I miss him terribly.”