In honor of the 53rd annual New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, which kicks off this week, we remember the fest’s first poster artist, Bruce Brice.
Brice was born in the French Quarter and grew up in the Lafitte public housing development. As a young man, he got a job assisting in Larry Bornstein’s French Quarter art gallery and began his career as a self-taught artist. In his 2014 Times-Picayune obituary, Brice said that he had been chosen to design the 1970 Jazz Fest poster because, “they wanted something unique by somebody who grew up with the second-lines, jazz funerals and stuff like that.”
Brice’s poster, a black-and-white bird’s-eye view of the festival (which at the time was set in Congo Square), was given out for free and posted in public spots around the city. Brice would sell his other paintings and prints at the festival for 45 years.
In 1975, Tulane law student Bud Brimberg produced the first numbered, limited-edition, silk-screen Jazz Fest poster. Poster artists have included Terrance Osborne, James Michalopoulos, Garland Robinette and George Rodrigue. Posters have depicted musical legends such as Louis Armstrong, Professor Longhair, Fats Domino, Irma Thomas, Dr. John, Aaron Neville, Pete Fountain, Allen Toussaint and Jon Batiste. This year’s poster by Kellie Talbot features The Dixie Cups.
