Examples of
authentic early works by Clementine Hunter
circa 1940s and 1950s, including a rare window-shade painting
The painting
"Canasta Players: is for sale. The other paintings will
eventually be donated
to the American Museum of Folk Art in New York and the Ogden
Museum
of American Art in New Orleans The works are part of a collection
owned by
descendants of Blythe Rand of Alexandria, Louisiana and were
given to
her by Clementine Hunter many years ago on Melrose Plantation
For more information
about the history of these paintings and to read the
story of Clementine Hunter's first oil painting, "Bowl
of Zinnias"
Please
click here |
COPYRIGHT NOTICE:
ALL IMAGES AND MATERIALS ON THIS PAGE, AS WELL AS ON ALL LINKED
PAGES, ARE COPYRIGHTED PROPERTIES.
Reproduction in any form is prohibited by law and will be enforced |
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Window Shade -- c.1950s
Oil on canvas shade
35" x 40"
The window shade painting at left is one of Clementine Hunter's
earliest paintings and was given by the artist to Blythe Rand,
grandmother of the current owner.
Mrs. Rand and her husband, Dr. Paul King Rand, owned a fishing
camp on Melrose Plantation, the land for the camp having been
leased to them in the early 1940s by Cammie Henry, owner of Melrose.
Clementine Hunter lived just a short distance from the fishing
camp and became a friend of Mrs. Rand and her grandchildren.
Clementine Hunter's early paintings were done with left-over
tubes of oil paint left at Melrose by the many artists who visited
there, and Mrs. Rand helped provide Clementine with window shades
and canvas boards to use for her work.
Oddly enough, once Clementine had finished the paintings, she
seemed to have no use for them and usually just gave them back
to Mrs. Rand as gifts.
The paintings on this page are the result of that mutual generosity
and form a collection of works that have never before been seen.
They are not for sale and will eventually be donated to a folk-art
museum for public viewing.
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"Milking Time" -- 1940s
Oil on canvas board
15-1/2" x 10-1/2"
"Milking Time" was one of the early Clementine
paintings that was shown in the Saturday Gallery Exhibition in
St. Louis, Missouri in 1952, and, along with "Bowl of Zinnias",
photographed in Look Magazine in 1953 (see links below). The
signature is unusual in that it appears to be drawn rather than
painted, which , along with the style of the painting,would indicate
a date in the mid or early 1940s.
When Whitfield Jack Jr.'s grandmother, who originally owned the
painting, asked Clementine why the cow had only three legs, Clementine
gave her a perfectly good reason: She said that the milking stool
only needed three legs, so the cow only needed three legs. Notice
that there is a cowbird sitting on top of the cow's head waiting
for a passing bug.
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"Canasta Players" -- c. mid-1960s
Oil on rigid pasteboard
24" X 16"
This painting also belonged to the owner's grandmother, Blythe
Rand. It depicts her canasta group, which normally included Blythe
Rand and her friends, Annie White (a very small lady who is probably
the diminutive player "seated" at the table sans chair),
and a third player, possibly Alma Hemenway. Clementine knew the
canasta ladies because they often played canasta at the Rand
Family camp on Melrose.
The absence of a chair gives the painting a humorous element
not usually found in Clementine's paintings, although it is uncertain
whether it was intentional. Card-players-in-pleine-aire is a
very unusual subject matter for her (or anybody else)!
The painting was given as a gift by Clementine to Blythe
Rand and was bequeathed to her grandson.
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"Washday" -- c.1950s
Oil on rigid pasteboard
24" x 24"
Clementine Hunter's sense of perspective, while primitive in
its execution, is one of the delightful aspects of her paintings.
Here in this early oil painting, one of the figures seems to
be hanging on the line along with the wash. And in the lower
right, the pot of boiling lye-soap, while actually at the end
of a short path, seems to be balanced on an upright fulcrum.
Notice, in the back under a tree, a man (probably relieved to
be avoiding wash-day chores) is apparently slugging down a bottle
of wine.
The painting was given as a gift by Clementine to Blythe Rand
and was bequeathed to her grandson.
(Note: The painting has some mildew)
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"Gone Fishing" c.1950s
Oil on rigid pasteboard
23-1/2" x 15-1/2"
In this charming oil painting, Clementine Hunter depicts a day
on Cane River with everybody fishing in their Sunday best. Notice
that in every case but one, the man is doing the fishing and
the wife is doing the supervising.
From the porch of the Rand family's camp,
"Happy Landing", this was a scene that could be witnessed
almost any day of the week.
The painting was given as a gift by Clementine to Blythe Rand
and passed on into the hands of her grandson.
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"Baptizing with Lady in Orange Dress"
c.Late 1950s -- Early 1960s
Oil on rigid pasteboard
24" x 15-1/2"
The mysterious lady in the orange dress appears from time to
time in Clementine Hunter's work. Whether it is the same lady
or not is unknown. But, where she appears, she invariably appears
alone. No one else seems to dare to wear the same dress in the
same painting! (See window-shade painting at top of page.)
These baptizings often took place in the backwaters of Cane River
near Dr. and Mrs. Rand's fishing camp. Movies of the baptisms
taken yeas ago by Dr. Rand have sadly been lost.
"Baptizing with Lady in Orange Dress" was a gift from
Clementine Hunter to her friend, Blythe Rand, and from there
passed into the ownership of Blythe Rand's grandson.
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"Hoeing Corn" c.1950s
Oil on rigid pasteboard
23" x 15-1/2"
Hoeing corn is a rare subject in Clementine Hunter's paintings
compared to picking cotton and picking pecans. What the lady
on the lower left is doing is anybody's guess (see Detail: Left).
She could be picking corn worms off the ears and putting them
in a jar. Or hopefully, just bringing water to the workers.
The painting was given as a gift by Clementine to Blythe Rand
and was bequeathed to her grandson.
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This painting is not for sale. |
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"Going to Church" c.Early 1950s
Oil on rigid pasteboard
23" x 19"
Across Cane River from the Rand family's fishing camp, was the
church seen so often in Clementine Hunter's paintings (also seen
above in the painting "Baptizing with Lady in Orange Dress").
The painting at left is unusual in that it shows
two churchgoers arriving by boat, which was the very way some
people did arrived during Clementine's day. Dr. Rand occasionally
ferried a few of the local parishioners to the bank near the
church in his lumbering old all-steel, very-slow "speed"
boat.
Although Clementine Hunter painted and signed the painting with
her initials"CH", the inscription, "Going To Church"
(or possibly "Goong To Church") was most certainly
done with guidance, since she could not read or write
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For more information about the history
of these paintings and to read the
story of Clementine Hunter's first oil painting, "Bowl
of Zinnias"
Please
click here |
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