"Neptune's Bathroom" By Creole Folk Artist Andrew LaMar Hopkins

 Neptune's Bathroom 12 x 12 by Creole Folk Artist Andrew LaMar Hopkins Available 

My latest painting "Neptune's Bathroom" 12 x 12 is inspired by Christian Dior’s beautiful Neoclassical inspired Bathroom from his Château de la Colle Noire. The French designer bought the 123-acre Château in the South of France in 1951 and loving began renovating the 29-room Château and landscape the grounds where he mentioned he hoped to retire someday in his 1956 autobiography Dior on Dior.

“I think of this house now as my real home, the home to which, God willing, I shall one day retire, the home where perhaps I will one day forget Christian Dior, Couturier, and become the neglected private individual again.”

Christian Dior unfortunately passed away in 1957 and never realized his retirement dream. The Château was bought and sold many times over the years and the contents auctioned off. In 2013, Christian Dior Parfums bought the home and spent the last three years renovating it and buying back original furnishings.

Christian Dior's Bathroom MONTAUROUX, VAR, FRANCE  : La Colle Noire castle once owned by fashion designer Christian Dior now fully restored following a two and half year restoration project initiated by Bernard Arnault of Christian Dior Parfums . 

  Christian Dior design his bathroom himself after studying French period Barthrooms from the    Directoire, Consulate, and Empire periods. Thank goodness the original fixtures remain in the castle.  

Christian Dior's Bathroom today @ Château de la Colle Noire:

A wonderful shell encrusted bust of Neptune I used in my painting 

Nice English Neoclassical design I used on the marble bathtub 

The nude 

Neptune's Bathroom 12 x 12 by Creole Folk Artist Andrew LaMar Hopkins Available 

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"Tonton de Blanc the Marie Antoinette of Louisiana" by Andrew LaMar Hopkins

"Tonton de Blanc the Marie Antoinette of Louisiana" by Andrew LaMar Hopkins 

My latest masterpiece is titled "Tonton de Blanc the Marie Antoinette of Louisiana" 11 x 14, Available. At a Christmas party I met a ancestor of the fabulous Tonton de Blanc who told me her fascinating story of this amazing lady. I thought at that time I needed to paint her. Tonton de Blanc was the Queen of beauty and fashion of late 18th century Saint Martinville, Louisiana. In my painting Tonton is standing in her Saint Martinville home holding a basket of fruit. The room is furnished with Louisiana made Creole furniture, like the Mahogany Cabriole Leg Armoire to the right and the Louisiana mahogany one drawer side table to the left. On the Creole table is a 18th century cobalt and ormolu Sèvres porcelain vase of garden flowers. 

Over the table is a oil portrait French Queen Marie Antoinette by court painter Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun. While in France Tonton de Blanc was in the Court of Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI. On top pf the armoire are wallpaper hat boxes. The French doors have a Toile de Jouy and lace drapery treatment. Tonton stands on a imported marble floors that includes yellow Royal Siena marble. Tonton de Blanc had one of the prettiest complexions in the world, all lily and rose, and what care she took of it ! She never went into the yard or the garden without a sunbonnet and a thick veil. 

Yet for all that her jealous critics said she was good and sensible, and would forget everything, even her dressing to help anyone in trouble. Tonton de Blanc was Louisiana Aristocracy and the Queen bee of fashion of 18th century Saint Martin. She designed fashionable hats made by milliners using local materials like split palmetto finished off with silk flowers and ribbons. After Tonton debut her fashions in the saint Marin church ,The next Sunday you could see as many hats as the milliner had time to make, and before the end of the month all the women of Saint Martinville were wearing palmetto hats furnished at a high 18th century cost of $25.00 each! You can read more about Tonton de Blanc in "Strange True Stories of Louisiana" by George Washington Cable. 

"Toussaint L'Ouverture, the black Napoleon" by Andrew LaMar Hopkins

"Toussaint L'Ouverture, the black Napoleon" by Andrew LaMar Hopkins. 

My latest miniature is titled "Toussaint L'Ouverture, the black Napoleon" Available PM me for price! Toussaint Louverture, Louverture also spelled L’Ouverture, original name (until c. 1793) François Dominique Toussaint, (born c. 1743, Bréda, near Cap-Français, Saint-Domingue [Haiti]—died April 7, 1803, Fort-de-Joux, France), leader of the Haitian independence movement during the French Revolution. He emancipated the slaves and negotiated for the French colony on Hispaniola, Saint-Domingue (later Haiti), to be governed, briefly, by black former slaves as a French protectorate.Toussaint was the son of an educated slave; Legally freed in 1776, he married and had two sons. Toussaint was homely, short, and small framed. He was a fervent Roman Catholic, opposed to Vodou (Voodoo). He dressed simply and was abstemious and a vegetarian. Although he slept little, his energy and capacity for work were astonishing. As a leader he inspired awe and adulation.