Rare Original Pencil Drawing by Edward Howard Suydam - 1930 A Café on the Place D"Armes

A CAFÉ ON THE PLACE D'ARMES by Edward Howard Suydam (1885-1940).   Graphite pencil on paper, signed lower left, dated 1930. Matted and framed, measures 21 1/8" x 19". Image dimensions: 12 1/4" x 10 1/4". 

This original artwork is featured in Lyle Saxon's Lafitte the Pirate, The Century Co., 1930, facing page 68. "E. H. Suydam went with me to New Orleans, and out among the islands and bayous of Barataria, in order to make sketches in the haunts of the buccaneers. His illustrations form an important part of the record." -Lyle Saxon.

Penned notations by the artist mounted at back of frame: "Little Theatre: Adjacent to each other in St. Peter Street near Chartres Street stand La[sic] Petit Theatre du Vieux Carre (the Little Theatre), organized in 1919, and Le Petit Salon, headquarters of a woman's cultural group...The Cabildo: Erected in 1795, used first as a meeting place of the Spanish Legislature, it was subsequently the scene of the transfer of Louisiana to the United States (1803) and is today the Louisiana State Museum...Cabildo: old Spanish court, now Louisiana Historical Museum. Located on Chartres & St. Peter Streets, facing Jackson Square. Scene of transfer of Province of Louisiana from France to United States, occurring December 20, 1803. Erected 1795 by Don Almonaster y Roxa."             

Suydam was an accomplished painter and printmaker during the early part of the twentieth century, known for his pencil sketches and etchings. He created a body of work that served to illustrate and document the development and growth of several important American cities. His prolific output included illustrations for many books about New Orleans including numerous souvenir booklets and  Lyle Saxon's Fabulous New Orleans and Lafitte the Pirate.

"The Place D'Armes was filled with a gay and vivid crowd, and little groups stood in earnest consultation, with frequent glances toward the closed, iron-grilled doors of the Cabildo where the conference was said to be taking place...Fresh-faced young girls, all dressed alike, walked two by two, on their way to church; and black-robed nuns, also in pairs, went with them, moving with downcast eyes past the gay and laughing group of dragoons that stood near the iron gates."