Baptismal Clementine Hunter (c. 1886-1988) c. 1976 Oil on canvas boardThe granddaughter of a former slave, Clementine Hunter was born on Hidden Hill Plantation in Natchitoches, Louisiana. A self-taught artist, she became internationally known for her images of life in the Cane River country. As a young girl, Hunter went to work for John Hampton Henry and his wife, known as Miss Cammie, on Melrose Plantation. In the late 1930s New Orleans artist Alberta Kinsey, one of the many artists and writers invited to the Henry home, left behind paint brushes and tubes of paint. After consulting with visiting writer François Mignon, Hunter began to paint. She described her painting process in the introduction to The Joyous Coast - A Fable - Cane River, Louisiana, which she illustrated:
I never have been much for navigating the highways. I spent all my free time at painting. I often would get up at nights and mark off a picture and paint it. Sometimes I would be asleep and see a picture cross my mind, then I would woken up, get out of bed and mark it off. Nobody ever taught me one thing about painting. I just worked it all out gradually by myself.
Since she could not always afford canvas, Hunter often painted on nontraditional surfaces, including window shades, bottles, cardboard, and brown paper bags. In 1955 the Delgado Museum (today the New Orleans Museum of Art) sponsored her one-woman show. Gaining her recognition as a folk artist, Clementine’s work was exhibited at the Museum of Folk Art in New York City, toured in a Smithsonian Institution traveling exhibition, and was featured in numerous magazine and newspaper articles. http://lsm.crt.state.la.us/painting/hunter.htm
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| Chapel at the Yucca HouseClementine Hunter (Hidden Hill Plantation, Natchitoches, Louisiana, 1886—near Melrose Plantation, Natchitoches, Louisiana, 1988) | |
| circa 1950 | |
| Acrylic on canvas | |
| 50.80 x 40.64 cm | |
| Louisiana State Museum. Gift of Mildred Hart Bailey | |
| 1998.76.24 | |
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American, 1887 - 1988
| Overall: 20 x 24 in. (50.8 x 60.96 cm) |
| Oil on canvas board |
| Dallas Museum of Art, gift of Dr. and Mrs. Robert F. Ryan |
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