Enrique Alférez: Sculptor

Enrique Alférez, born in Mexico at the dawn of the twentieth century, left a lasting imprint on the Louisiana landscape.  After service in the Mexican Revolution as a youth, he emigrated to Texas; studied in Chicago; and, in 1929, first made his way to New Orleans.  For the next seventy years, until his death in 1999, he contributed figurative sculptures, monuments, fountains, architectural details, and carvings to prominent sites across the city - from the Poydras Street corridor to City Park to the Lakefront Airport.  It is difficult today to drive more than a few miles in New Orleans without encountering some trace of his craft.  Through his art, this sculptor of Mexican origins helped shape the look of one of the United States' most visually interesting cities.

Author Katie Bowler Young has gained extensive access to Alférez's personal records and family connection to create a poetic evocation of the life and work of this preeminent artist.  Enrique Alférez: Sculptor is the latest entry in The Historic New Orleans Collection's Louisiana Artists Biography Series.  Featuring more than one hundred images of Alférez's work in New Orleans and beyond, this volume is the first in the series to center on sculpture and public art.

In 2020, NOMA acquired Alférez's mural Symbols of Communication, which was originally created for the New Orleans Times-Picayune building in 1967.  The mural is now the centerpiece of NOMA’s newly opened Lapis Center for the Arts, a mixed-use performance, lecture and event space at the museum.