Finding Black Louisiana Folk Artist Clementine Hunter

Wash Day by Clementine Hunter, 1980. Taken from WikiArt. 

I don't know much about art and artists, but I do want to learn more about the Black Louisiana Folk Artist Clementine Hunter. It seems tragic to me that I could live into my late 60s and never learn about her or see her work. This art is a living example of the kind of beauty that I try to get out on this blog. 

I have the Black Southern Belle and the Glitter Gallery pages to thank for brining Clementine Hunter to my attention. The Gallery provided this brief introduction to Hunter and her work and the photograph below.

Remembering Our great Louisiana Folk Artist Clementine Hunter who passed away January 1, 1988 at the age 102. She was a self-taught African-American artist from the Cane River region of Louisiana. She was born on Hidden Hill Plantation, known today as Little Eva Plantation, said to be the inspiration for Uncle Tom's Cabin. She was the granddaughter of a slave and worked as a farm hand. She was never taught to read or write. In her mid Fifties, she began painting using paint brushes left by an Artist that visited Melrose Plantation where she lived and worked. Hunter's new lifestyle of artwork depicted plantation life in the early 20th Century documenting a bygone era. She first sold her paintings for as little as 25 cents. By the end of her life, her work was being displayed and exhibited in museums and sold by art dealers for thousands of dollars. Hunter was granted an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree by Northwestern State University of Louisiana in 1986. Today her artwork appears in museums and private collections all over the world and sells into the hundreds of thousands of dollars for some of her most treasured paintings. Thank you Clementine Hunter. You Inspired Us.