Julien Hudson

Julien Hudson (1811–1844) was a 19th Century free man of color who lived in New Orleans. He was a successful painter and art teacher. He is known as the first African American or French Creole of Color operating in America by whom a self-portrait was found.^[1]

Biography

Julien Hudson was born January 9, 1811 in New Orleans. His father, John T. Hudson was a British ship chandler and ironmonger. His mother, Suzanne Desiree Marcos, was a free New Orleans quadroon (of Caucasian and African origins). Before studying painting, Julien Hudson briefly was a tailor’s apprentice in the mid 1820’s. He then studied with Antoine Meucci, an itinerant miniaturist painter between 1826 and 1827. Hudson’s learning then continued in Paris with well-known artist Alexandre Abel de Pujol (after 1827).^[2] After returning to New Orleans, Julien Hudson opened his own studio on Bienville Street in 1831. During this time, many free men of color became professional artists, musicians or writers. Julien Hudson died in 1844 in New Orleans.

References

Biography

• In Search of Julien Hudson: Free Artist of Color in Pre–Civil War New Orleans, The Historic New Orleans Collection
• A Mixed Palette: Free Artists of Color of Antebellum New Orleans, Patricia Brady, The International Review of African American Art: 19th Century African American Fine and Craft Arts of the South, Hampton University Museum, Virginia, Volume 12, No. 3, pp. 5–8.
• Two Hundred Year of African American Art, Driskell, David C., Los Angeles and New York: Los Angeles County Museum and Alfred A. Knopf, 1976.