As a child, New Orleans native San Nicholas (1924-2018) showed a near-prodigy level of skill as an artist despite suffering the trauma of extreme poverty and physical abuse. With grit and determination, he rose above the desperate circumstances of his childhood to emerge as one of the great Carnival costume designers of the twentieth century. 

“San,” as he was known to his friends, began his art education as a teenager in the 1940s before moving to New York City to study fashion design. In the 1950s, San returned to New Orleans to pursue his career, leading him to the world of Carnival costume. San designed costumes for the Krewe of Endymion (of which he was a founding member), the Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure Club, the Krewe of Orpheus, and the Krewe of Aquila, his last client before his death in 2018 at age 93.

Rocky Russo, a close friend of San and the executor of his estate, has loaned several thousand of San’s remaining costume sketches to the Louisiana State Museum as the foundation for this landmark exhibition. Celebrating the 100th anniversary of San’s birth, the exhibition includes dozens of San’s most extraordinary designs along with original costumes from the Museum’s permanent collection.
 

San in Concert | Thursday, February 1

Just prior to his death, San met New York musical theater writers David Gosz & Leo Fotos, who were so moved by his personal story that they penned an original musical inspired by his life and career. Simply entitled San, the musical has already earned accolades in numerous New York theater festivals. 

Gosz & Fotos plan to take San to Broadway, sharing the perseverance and talent of one of New Orleans’s greatest artists with a national audience. This exhibition also provided the first opportunity for David Gosz & Leo Fotos to perform selections from their musical, San, for a New Orleans audience at Le Petit Théâtre in the French Quarter. The concert took place on Thursday, February 1, 2024. Tickets included the concert AND the following private exhibition opening in the Presbytère. Concert attendees proceeded in a second line from Le Petit Theatre to the Presbytère after the concert for the private exhibition opening.