Arthur Roger Gallery

In 1978 Arthur Roger opened his gallery at 3005 Magazine Street in New Orleans' Garden District. A year earlier the Contemporary Arts Center had opened in downtown New Orleans. The artistic scene in the city was beginning to burgeon. The Arthur Roger Gallery moved to the forefront of galleries in the city. The gallery attracted a number of New Orleans' most prominent artists including Robert Gordy and Ida Kohlmeyer.  As interest grew rapidly in the uptown galleries, Arthur Roger played a leading role in forming the New Orleans Gallery Association and in arranging the remarkably successful coordinated exhibition openings which would transform the art scene in New Orleans. The gallery was selected to assist in assembling several major corporate collections including the Hotel Inter-Continental in New Orleans, the Pan- American Life Insurance Company and the Aquarium of the Americas. By 1984 the gallery was gaining national recognition and was selected for participation in the Chicago International Art Exposition where it has continued to exhibit each year. The gallery has also been included in the Los Angeles, Miami and Seattle Art Fairs. In 1984 the Arthur Roger Gallery played a central role in arranging the large Louisiana Arts exhibition at the World's Fair in New Orleans. The exhibit was regarded as one of the most successful at the Exposition. In late summer 2005 Katrina devastated enormous areas in New Orleans but the Arts District and the gallery were largely spared. Many gallery artists, however, had overwhelming losses both to their homes and to their work.  The gallery helped to spearhead efforts for the renewal of the visual arts in New Orleans. In January, 2006 the Arthur Roger Gallery arranged a panel discussion to address the enormous challenges for the visual arts posed by the widespread destruction of Hurricane Katrina.