The Ogden Museum of Southern Art opens in New Orleans. But just what counts as “southern” art? “I’m not aware that there is such a thing as Southern art, at least not if you’re defining it by technique. If there’s something distinct about it, it’s subject matter and also inner heritage. All Southerners who try to express themselves in art — whether it’s writing or painting or anything else — are very much aware that they are party to a defeat, which is something most other Americans didn’t feel until Vietnam.”