Bomb Scare at Newcomb Campus

Kendall Shaw's Bomb Scare at Newcomb Campus, 1957, oil on canvas
Photo by Richard McCabe

In 1957, Kendall Shaw was a student at Tulane University, where he studied with Ida Kohlmeyer, Kurt Kranz, George Rickey and Mark Rothko. He had already studied painting with Ralston Crawford at the Brooklyn Museum, and with O. Louis Guglielmi and Stuart Davis at the New School. Shaw states, "they were my friends, who taught me about architectural structure on a canvas and music possible from hard edge shapes of high key color." This concept, of music and emotion in paint surfaces, Shaw brought with him to develop at Newcomb.

In 1957, someone called in a fake bomb threat to Newcomb College. Shaw remained in his studio on the upper floor of the art building as the other students gathered on the bright green lawn below. In a recent correspondence Shaw related the experience:

When I looked down at the greens below, I was delighted to see that the Newcomb students dotted the grass in multicolored sweaters. (I thought that only in India would one see a large number of intense colored fabrics on a crowded lawn.) High with the color experience, I put it down as quickly as I could do so.

The result of that experience, Bomb Scare at Newcomb Campus, 1957, has been generously donated to the Ogden Museum of Southern Art by his niece, Eileen Madrid. It is a welcome addition to the permanent collection, representing a key moment in the development of his style. It is currently on exhibition on the fourth floor of Goldring Hall.

Kendall Shaw: Let There Be Light

Photo by David Houston


The Ogden Museum of Southern Art is proud to announce the publication of Kendall Shaw: Let There Be Light. This catalogue documents the exhibition of the same name, curated by David Houston and featured at the Ogden Museum from January through April of 2007. The exhibition was then travelled to the Ruskin Gallery at Cambridge School of Art in England in the fall of the same year. Including a foreward by J. Richard Gruber, Ph.D, and essays by David Houston, Martica Sawin, and Bruce Russell, this handsome hard-bound volume is a fine critical document and tribute to the work of New Orleans native, Kendall Shaw. With over thirty full-color plates of paintings from the 1950s to 2006, the catalogue also contains installation shots from both venues, showing not only content but context.


Circular Continuity, 1966, Kendall Shaw.
Acrylic on canvas 72" x 72".
Collection of the artist.

Kendall Shaw: Let There Be Light is available for purchase (while supplies last) in the museum store. Plans are in the works for an artist's talk and book signing.


Giorno installed at Ruskin Gallery.
Photo by Arlington Weithers.