• Skip navigation and go to content
  • Go to navigation

Norman Rockwell Museum

  • Visit
    • Hours & Admission
    • Directions
    • Exhibitions
  • Learn
    • Programs
    • School Programs
    • Curriculum Lab
  • Research
    • Norman Rockwell Collection
    • Archives and Library
    • Rockwell Center for Americal Visual Studies
    • IllustrationHistory.org
    • Frank Schoonover Collection Raisonné
  • Donate
    • Make a Gift
    • Become a Member
  • Shop
  • Calendar
  • Contact
    • Staff Directory
    • Norman Rockwell Museum e-newsletter sign-up
    • Careers
    • What's my Rockwell Worth?
      FAQ

Illustration History

  • History
  • Artists
  • Genres
  • Essays
  • Resources
  • Podcast
  • History
    • Time Periods
  • Artists
  • Genres
  • Essays
  • Resources
  • Podcast
Home > Illustrations > Vidette in Pirogue

Vidette in Pirogue

By Frank Schoonover | Created: 1911

Vidette in Pirogue
Publication
  • Harper’s Monthly Magazine
Publication Date
  • December 1911
Medium
  • Oil
Support
  • Canvas
Illustration Size
  • 22 x 33 in.

©Public Domain

In January of 1911, Schoonover and his new bride traveled to Cuba and the bayou country of Louisiana for their honeymoon. In both locations, the artist visited the haunts of the pirates, sketched the environs, took photographs, and made notes with the plan of writing and illustrating an article on the infamous pirate, Jean Lafitte. Schoonover’s wife did research in the library while her husband continued to scour the bayous.

In this illustration, Vidette, leaning forward warily, waits in the ‘pirogue,’ guarding the entrance to Lafitte’s lair. The cluster of weeds, typical of the bayous in Louisiana, provides the perfect hiding place for the pirate. Schoonover took photographs of the bayou grasses reflecting his determination to be authentic about the details as well as the boat, the clothing and the objects.

In a letter to Alex H Lappe, Esq. in 1912, Schoonover wrote: “I made a trip through the various bayous to the islands and and there discovered some of the descendents of the Pierre Lafitte band…I paddled about in just such a green pirogue as you see in the picture…took up my position back of a fringe of salt marsh grass and watched the Gulf.”

Genres
  • Books
  • Interior Illustration
Global Perspectives
  • North America
Related Time Periods
  • The Decade 1910-1920 The Decade 1910-1920

Support the Project

We need your help to keep this project alive and growing. How can you help?

Submit Work
Make A Donation
About The Project

Stay Informed

Join our mailing list to receive updates about this growing project.

Art Works. National Endowment for the Arts. arts.gov

This project is supported in part by an award
from the National Endowment for the Arts.

"The great band of illustrators have shown us to ourselves and I am proud to be among their company."
- Norman Rockwell

©Copyright 2020 Norman Rockwell Museum
9 Route 183, Stockbridge, MA 01262 | 413.298.4100
Privacy Policy | Terms and Conditions |
Equity & Justice Commitment