Journal Entry: 1/5/19
Morning Meditation
“Perhaps one of those special things we keep around to remind us of certain feelings and affections of time past.”
There is a story behind this photo entitled Morning Meditation. It is the creation by the late John Donnels of New Orleans. Just a memory.
For most of my productive years, at least those that had any value, were the ones I spent working alongside Catholic Sisters in healthcare. A strong and dedicated group of women. Since I am deeply rooted in religion, but not a deeply rooted religious man, I have always remembered that I was raised by a Holy Man and worked most of my life with Sister’s of Charity. My entire life has been around people with purpose. So in a way that has become my religion. Just sensing the beauty of those serving others is a form of worship. At least for me.
About twenty years ago I remember visiting with Sister Margret each morning. As I entered her office I always noticed this picture hanging on her wall. Each morningI would gave it acknowledgment.
When my career ended with this Order, Sister Margret presented me with this photo. What a gift. I entitled it People With Purpose. I look at it each day with fond memories. Perhaps one of those special things we keep around to remind us of certain feelings and affections of times past?
Years later, I just happened to be in New Orleans during the French Quarter Festival. It was one of those short trips that turned into a longer trip and I made it a purpose to stop by Mr Donnels Photo Gallery down on St. Peter Street. St. Peter’s Street is nestled in close to Jackson Square.
What a nice walk it is to revisit anytime I return to New Orleans. I usually take St. Ann down to Cafe Du Monde, have a cup of dark coffee, stroll the River levee and pick up St. Peter to Mr. Donnels studio. It’s like I have a need to check in again with all those first impressions made years ago.
Mr. Donnels did not know me, but I felt I knew him, maybe just a little. After all, I had admired his photo each day for many years. His gallery was filled with pictures of his neighborhood and its people. His kind demeanor, only confirmed my belief in his purpose.
Mr. Donnels died in 2009 at the age of 84. Donnels had his gallery near Jackson Square for more than 50 years. He lived in the Quarter for most of his life, and was playwright Tennessee Williams’ neighbor in the 1940s.
His work, chronicled in a 1999 book, has been exhibited at the Kennedy Center, Harvard University, the Ford Times Collection of American Art, the National Academy of Design, the New Orleans Museum of Art and Historic New Orleans Collection.
Although he was a renowned photographer, Donnels began his career as a painter. For a time, he worked as a police sketch artist. In the 1960s, Donnels bartered a painting for a camera, and a career change followed.
After his death there was local documentary was made of him. It was called the “Pink Satin Suit”:
The Pink Satin Suit documented the struggles, perseverance and discipline that go into the making of a self-made man. Johnny Donnels is an icon of the French Quarter, as was his gallery, filled with his own art. His great love was The French Quarter and his art was revealed like a lover’s embrace with the life that he saw and captured. He was, to many, the last of the great Bohemians: a symbol of freedom and ease.
