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The Northwest Louisiana History Museum
explores the unique cultural traditions from early
native-American civilizations to the present. The building
itself, designed by Trahan Architects, has won international
acclaim for its design and is shared with the Louisiana Sports
Hall of Fame. However, even though both of the museums offer a
multitude of interesting exhibits, there is one that is unique
in that it tells the story of ordinary African Americans during
the post slavery period in the South. Their story is told not in
words but in images and it is told by an extraordinary woman.
Today
Clementine Hunter is recognized as one of the most
important self-taught American Folk Artists of the 20th century.
Clementine had no opportunity to study art. In fact she was far
too poor to even attend school and never learned to read or
write. She went to work as a field hand at a young age and later
became a cook and housekeeper at Melrose Plantation in the Cane
River region of northwest Louisiana. Incidentally, Melrose
Plantation was built and owned by African Creole people.
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| Clementine painted many other
thing besides the murals. |
A happy
accident at Melrose Plantation first put a paint brush in
Clementine's hand. The owner, Carmelite Garrett Henry, known as
"Miss Cammie," of Melrose Plantation had created an art haven
there and many noted painters stayed and worked there. New
Orleans artist Alberta Kinsey visited a Melrose Plantation in
1939. when she left she discarded some of her old brushes and
partial used tubes of paint. Clementine picked them up and began
her career with a painting on an old window shade.
The stories that emerged from Clementine's
brush were unique. She portrayed everyday life on a southern
plantation as she lived it. She painted her memories in a set of
murals on the second floor in a building on the plantation known
as the African House. Both the African House and the murals have
been named by the National Trust of Historic Preservation
as "a National
Treasure."
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| Everyday life on the plantation.
Clementine painted weddings and funerals |
Tommy Whitehead, author of
Clementine Hunter: Her
Life and Art and
our guide at the museum, pointed out an interesting fact about
her paintings, "She painted her people based on their
importance. Notice in a wedding scene, the bride is the largest
and the maid of honor next. The preacher was usually the
smallest because Clementine had low regard for preachers."
He pointed out another example of her
favorites showing in her paintings. He pointed to one of the
murals, "Look at
these pigs. Her favorite food was pork. The hogs are just about
as big as the horses."
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| Everyday plantation life as
Clementine saw it. |
In another of her murals, she portrays an
old Black man with a horse and buggy. that was Uncle Israel. the
last of the former slaves that was still alive. He died in 1924.
In this mural she also has a self portrait wearing a yellow
apron and serving drinks. She portrays the owner, Cammie, as
being very small as is Cammie's son, the overseer shown on a
horse. She foreshadows the future with Cammie's grandson, Pat
Henry. He was the first person who owned an airplane on Cane
River.
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| Note the women carrying baskets
on their heads as in Africa and the primitive equipment
used to plow the fields contrasted with the automobile
and the airplane. Clementine Hunter lived and portrayed
a very changing era. |
During her lifetime, Clementine, produced
thousands of paintings drawn from her experiences working and
living on Melrose Plantation. When she first started painting,
she sold her works for a quarter. By the time of the death, the
painting were selling in the thousands. Clementine painting up
until her death Clementine became the first African-American
artist granted her own exhibition at the Delgado Museum
(currently the New Orleans Museum of Art). This lady who was too
poor to attend school long enough to learn to read or write was
awarded an honorary
Doctor of Fine Arts degree in 1986 at age 101 by Northwestern
State University of Louisiana. She was included in Radcliffe
College's Black Women
Oral History Project, published in 1980. She received an
invitation to the White House from U.S. President Jimmy Carter.
President Ronald Reagan also wrote to her. No one can
doubt that Clementine Hunter's work advanced the cause of her
people making her a true Civil Rights leader in her unique
field.
Her most famous works are the murals she
painted on the wall of the African House. she painted those in
just two weeks, June 8 and July 21, 1955. She painted other
murals on the Yucca House and Ghana House. She also painted
thousands of items many of them discards she salvaged. The
museum has many of her other works of art on display as well as
a model of her home done by John Allen LeBlanc in 2007.
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| Model of Clementine's home. |
The
Murals of Clementine Hunter is only going to be on display
at Northwest Louisiana History Museum until April of 2016 so
don't miss your chance to see this remarkable art.
For more info:
http://www.crt.state.la.us/louisiana-state-museum/exhibits/clementine-hunter-info-sheet
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