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Bunny Matthews at The Historic New Orleans Collection

Bunny Matthews poses in front of his drawings of Vic and Nat’ly in Lee Crum’s black-and-white portrait
Bunny Matthews with Vic and Nat’ly / © Lee Crum, 1983

We’re very excited for our friends at the Bunny Matthews Archive as Bunny Matthews: His Life, Art, and Obsessions opens at The Historic New Orleans Collection on September 18.

The exhibition brings together Bunny’s work as a cartoonist, writer, observer, and chronicler of New Orleans culture, including his best-known characters Vic and Nat’ly. HNOC describes the show as an exploration of Bunny’s many obsessions—music, Mardi Gras, Jazz Fest, the changing city, and the contradictions that made New Orleans such a constant source of material for him. The exhibition runs through May 9, 2027.

For the Bunny Matthews Archive, the show also feels like a coming-out party of sorts.

The Archive was created to preserve Bunny’s work and make it more accessible over time, while extending his legacy through publishing, exhibitions, education, and support for future generations of New Orleans creativity. Much of the material in the exhibition comes from the body of work now being preserved through that greater effort.

Bunny Matthews paints a large drawing on the set of Da Vic and Nat’ly Show
Bunny Matthews at work / Andrew Boyd, 1985 / © Times-Picayune
Bunny Matthews color illustration of a crowned Chihuahua in a purple robe, with a crescent moon, shoes, and a cocktail glass
Bunny Matthews / From the Archive

The exhibition arrives alongside the first major monograph devoted to Bunny’s work, Bunny Matthews: His Life, Art, and Obsessions, written by Alison Fensterstock and Michael Tisserand and published by HNOC. The 336-page book includes hundreds of images and launches alongside the exhibition on September 18.

We’ve been fortunate to work with the Bunny Matthews Archive on the systems that will help support that next chapter, and it’s gratifying to see the work entering public view at this scale.

Explore the Archive project →

If you’re in New Orleans, go see it.

Bunny Matthews: His Life, Art, and Obsessions

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The Historic New Orleans Collection
520 Royal Street
Exhibition details →