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Melrose, LA Clementine Hunter 1887-1988 Paintings

Information: No one is quite sure of the date, but it is believed that Clementine Hunter (pronounced "Clementeen") was born in December 1886 or January 1887 on a Natchitoches plantation called Hidden Hill. She died January 1, 1988 near Melrose Plantation where she had spent all but the first 15 years of her life. Clementine Hunter didn't begin painting until her mid-50s. Her husband, Emanuel, didn't encourage her. She had to work on the plantation. She gave birth to seven children, but only five lived. She worked on the plantation as a field hand and later as a domestic (housekeeper). Clementine was a Creole, which means a mixture of five races: Austrian, French, Irish, Indian and African-American. She spoke a Creole dialect for many years until she married her second husband, Emanuel, who taught her English. Favorite subjects included cotton picking (she actually enjoyed picking cotton, she said), wash day, pecan gathering, Saturday nights, church scenes and her favorite flowers, zinnias. Clementine Hunter painted what she knew and loved. Her works are simple. The style is known as naive or folk. "Naive" means innocent and inexperienced; "folk" meaning the way everyday people would paint. She was illiterate so she couldn't sign her name to her paintings. She began to initial them by copying the initials of Cammy Henry, the owner of the plantation, but she worried that it would cause confusion, so she made a backwards C. Over the years the backward C worked its way across the H, until Hunter's identifying mark became uniquely her own. Considered one of "50 Classic Outsiders", Raw Vision Sourcebook, 2002" Louisiana Public Television

	Reference / Links:
	Look Magazine Raw Vision Magazine: "Clementine Hunter" Gilley's Gallery: "Clementine Hunter" Louisiana Public Television Folk Art Life Lindsay Gallery Outsider Folk Art
	(Detour Art is not responsible for the content of external web sites.)

Bibliography: Museums African American House, Melrose Plantation, Natchitoches, LA American Folk Art Museum, NY Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, LA Capitol Children's Museum, Washington, DC Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, Dallas, TX Fisk University, Nashville, TN High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA Louisiana Art and Science Center, Baton Rouge, LA Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA New Orleans Museum of Art, Mew Orleans, LA New York Historical Reference "Museum of American Folk Art Encyclopedia of Twentieth Century American Folk Art and Artists" by Chuck and Jan Rosenak, Abbeville Press, New York, 1990. "Clementine Hunter, American Folk Artist", Wilson, 1990 "Painting by Heart", Gilley, 2000 "Let it Shine: Self-Taught Art from the T. Marshall Hahn Collection" by Lynne E. Spriggs, Joanne Cubbs, Lynda Roscoe Hartigan, Susan Mitchell Crawley, Michael E. Shapiro and Peter Harholdt, organized by the High Museum of Art, 2001. "American Self-Taught Art: An Illustrated Analysis of 20th Century Artists and Trends with 1,319 Capsule Biographies" by Florence Laffal and Julius Laffal, 2003. Look Magazine article: "Innocence Regained" June 16, 1953 "Pictured in My Mind", exhibit catalog, 1998 Raw Vision Magazine: "Clementine Hunter", No 25, 1998 "Contemporary American Folk Art - A Collector's Guide" Chuck and Jan Rosenak, Abbeville Press, 1996. "20th Century American Folk, Self Taught, and Outsider Art" by Betty-Carol Sellen, Cynthia J. Johnson, Neal-Schuman Publishers, New York, 1993. "Souls Grown Deep: African American vernacular Art of the South", Vol 1, Arnett, et al, 1995. "Wos Up Man?" Selections from the Joseph D. and Janet M. Sheen Collection of Self-taught Art" Palmer Museum of Art, 2005. "50 Classic Outsiders", Raw Vision Sourcebook, 2002" Slotin Folk Art Auction Catalog, Masterpiece Sale, November 4, 2006

Credit: Slotin Folk Art

Funeralc. 1950's. Paint on artist board. Complete funeral scene includes church, pall bearers with casket, grave diggers with open grave and procession. Great and impressive early piece. Excellent condition. Image: 23.5 x 17 Framed: 27 x 21.5 Credit: Slotin Folk Art

Easter Sunday c. early 1970's. Oil on artist's board. Wonderful image of everyone wearing their Sunday best. This is an unusual and rare image. Excellent condition. 25 x 19 Credit: Slotin Folk Art

Night Juke Joint Credit: Slotin Folk Art

Three Wise Men Three wise men visiting baby Jesus. c. late 1960's. Oil on artist board. Slight paint thinning on red house - otherwise excellent condition. Pencil face doodle on back. 23.5 x 16 Credit: Slotin Folk Art

Bringing in the Cotton c. 1950's. Heavy oil on masonite. Signed lower left. Very good - rare early piece with three processes of cotton production and chickens. 17.5 x 12.5 with frame. Credit: Slotin Folk Art

Mule Ride in Snowstorm c. early 1980's. Oil on artist board. Nicely framed image is 20 x 16. Frame: 27 x 23. Unusual subject for Hunter, being from deep south and having little exposure to snowstorms. Provenance Ruth West Credit: Slotin Folk Art

Needlepoint Juke Joint c. early 1970's. The consignor and her mother visited Clementine Hunter and had her paint images on needlepoint fabric. Her mother subsequently purchased matching yarn and needlepointed over Hunter's images to produce these unique works. Very rare - excellent condition. Image: 13.5 x 10.5. Credit: Slotin Folk Art

	Needlepoint Cotton Pickin' c. early 1970's. The consignor and her mother visited Clementine Hunter and had her paint images on needlepoint fabric. Her mother subsequently purchased matching yarn and needlepointed over Hunter's images to produce these unique works. Very rare - excellent condition. Credit: Slotin Folk Art
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