Clementine Hunter (1886 or 1887–1988), Cotton Pickin’, Natchitoches, Louisiana, 1948, oil on artist board, 24 1/2 x 28 x 1 1/2 in. American Folk Art Museum, New York, Gift of Gleaves Rhodes, 2001.27.1. Copyright Cane River Art Corporation, with special thanks to Thomas Whitehead. Photo by Gavin Ashworth.
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Clementine Hunter: As I Saw It
Clementine Hunter was a prolific self-taught artist whose vibrant paintings depict the rhythms of daily Black life on Melrose Plantation in Louisiana. Born around 1886 or 1887 in the Jim Crow South, Hunter had little access to formal education and spent most of her life working as a plantation laborer. Yet her creative vision flourished. Her surreal use of bright colors to depict the world around her transforms memory into art, creating images that quietly express dignity and resilience in the face of oppression.
Hunter began making art when she was in her 50s, using paint left by visiting artists at the plantation. In 1955, she was the first Black artist to have an exhibition at the New Orleans Museum of Art, but, due to segregation, she was only allowed to see it when curators snuck her through a back entrance. She produced over 5,000 paintings, many at night by the light of a kerosene lamp, until her death in 1988 at the age of 101.
Clementine Hunter: As I Saw It is generously lent by American Folk Art Museum, New York as part of Art Bridges’ Partner Loan Network.
