clementine hunter louisianas most famous artist 1886-1988

Clementine HunterLouisiana’s Most Famous Artist

1886-1988

• Hunter was born on Hidden Hill Plantation near Cloutierville, Louisiana, a place so isolated and harsh that local legend claimed it was the real-life inspiration for Uncle Tom's Cabin.

As a child, her family moved north to the Cane River area, eventually to Melrose Plantation near Natchitoches, where Hunter spent a lot of her life picking cotton. She attended school for just 10 days and never learned to read or write. Later, she cooked for the Big House, using her creative spirit to make dolls for the children, as well as quilts, baskets, and lace curtains.

Melrose Plantation on Tour Day

• 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.

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.

Picking Pecans Night Out at the Honky Tonk

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.

Angels

Picking Cotton

Black Jesus

Funeral

Wash Day

Water Baptism Going to the Cotton Gin

Playing Cards

Clementine Hunter in her home, surrounded by her art

To see a free exhibit of Clementine’s works, please visit the Jesuit library from February 26-28, 2013.

Paintings on display are from the collection of Jesuit art teacher Meg Jennings and her parents Toni and Eddie Feinman.

Clementine Hunter