Few artists achieve the public acclaim and widespread appreciation as did Rolland Golden, who lived his last years in the Folsom area. He was born in New Orleans in 1931, but in his younger years, he lived in Jackson and Grenada, Mississippi. His family also lived in Birmingham and Montgomery, Alabama, while he was growing up.
He graduated from the well-known John McCrady School of Art in New Orleans. During the Korean War, he served in the U.S.Navy.
A still frame from the Louisiana Public Broadcasting program about Golden
In 1957 he married Stella Doussan Golden and lived in the French Quarter in New Orleans. They opened an art gallery on Royal Street, his wife became his business manager, and his career skyrocketed. "She handles the business, and I produce the art," he once said. Later, they lived in Natchez, MS, where they operated an art gallery.
He first became a "professional artist" in 1957 and started winning awards in 1965. His career took off after the well-known celebrity Vincent Price saw one of his paintings on exhibit while visiting New Orleans, and recommended his prints for marketing through a major nationwide retailer.
Right from the beginning, his work was appreciated and praised throughout the nation, with his emphasis on portraying scenes from the New Orleans French Quarter, the Mississippi Delta region, and small towns and landscapes everywhere in between.
His artwork became the subject of many lectures, public talks, and newspaper articles, with volumes written about his many public exhibits throughout Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee and even southern California and Moscow.
He was one of the few American artists to be invited to have a one-man show in the Soviet Union. He was also one of the 50 watercolorists from the United States to take part in the Bicentennial National Invitational Exhibition.
A watercolor artist famous for his soulful portrayals of people, buildings, and deteriorating fences, he won dozens of awards, had a book written about him and even had a television documentary produced about him and his work. His paintings invoked many emotions, the art reviewers stated, among them "melancholy nostalgia."
Golden's artwork was collected by many private enthusiasts as well as museums both big and small. Often his work focused on Southern plantations along the rivers of Louisiana and Mississippi. He was known for painting an entire series of artworks based on a common theme, sometimes blending reality with the imaginary.
Golden's works were showcased in an art gallery bearing his name in downtown Covington in 2015-17, and his work could be found in dozens of galleries throughout Louisiana and Mississippi. He took part in hundreds of one-man shows during his career, including exhibits in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, Houston and Memphis. In May of 2016, he joined several other artists in a St. Tammany Art Association exhibit called “Expressions of Place: The Southeastern Louisiana Landscape” which took place in the Miriam Barranger Gallery at the STAA headquarters on Columbia Street.
He loved to paint landscapes, but the Mississippi River itself was often a subject for his artistic eye. His style was highly praised for its emotional content and use of light.
In 2014, he wrote his autobiography, "Life, Love and Art in the French Quarter," in which he described his emotional reaction to the destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. His series of paintings of victims of the hurricane was highly acclaimed, although he said it was a depressing subject matter to capture on canvas.
He died on July 1, 2019, at his home in Folsom at 87 years of age.
In 2020, the Louisiana Legends television show produced by Louisiana Public Broadcasting featured his life story.
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