John Laurent and Robert Laurent

John Laurent taught at UNH for 30 years, beginning in 1954. As a painter, he displayed incredible range: as one art dealer said, “He brought together the various directions of American art in the 20^th century.” A multi-talented artist, John was a very good jazz musician – playing in bands in Boston – as well as an avid fisherman, as one may deduce from the imagery of the work on view, Waterfront. One might even say that this lithograph has a jazz feel to it in its composition and execution.

John Laurent was the son of Robert Laurent, a noted sculptor and French immigrant who helped found the Ogunquit art colony, a summer colony of modern art, in the early 20^th century. The work on view was created as a model for a fountain. (One can clearly see the tubing in the fish’s mouth.) While a resident sculptor at the University of Indiana from 1942-1960, one of his most important large-scale works was a fountain he completed for the fine arts plaza there. The central figure in the fountain was based on this model.