Clementine Hunter (1886/87–1988)
Clementine Hunter (1886/87–1988)
Clementine Hunter, the daughter of a field hand and granddaughter of a slave, lived most of her life on Melrose Plantation, in northern Louisiana. There, she worked in the cotton fields and later as a domestic, expressing her creativity through cooking, sewing, and making baskets. Melrose Plantation was a center for arts, culture, and history and was visited by many important artists and writers. In 1940 Francois Mignon, curator at Melrose, recognized Hunter’s artistic talents and encouraged her to pursue painting. From that point on she painted constantly. Having no money to buy supplies, Hunter used such available materials as gourds, bottles, window shades, paper bags, and paints left behind by artists visiting Melrose. Over the next forty years, she produced several thousand works depicting her memories of plantation life – harvesting, raising children, fishing, and going to church. By the 1950s Hunter had won acclaim as a folk artist and in 1955 was given a one-person exhibition at Northwestern State University in Louisiana. At the time Hunter was prevented from viewing her exhibition along with white patrons. This same university bestowed an Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts on Hunter in 1986, when she was one hundred years old. Today, Clementine Hunter is considered one of the twentieth century’s preeminent folk artists.