Outsider Art. Rare
primitive painting. First work by Clementine Hunter.
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"Bowl of Zinnias"
Clementine Hunter's First Oil Painting |
The Secret
Paintings of Clementine Hunter - Part 1
Background
of Whitfield Jack, Jr., grandson of the
original owner of Clementine Hunter's "Bowl of Zinnias"
Whitfield Jack, Jr. was
born in 1936 in Alexandria, Louisiana, about forty-five miles
from Melrose Plantation. In 1944, when Whitfield was eight years
old, Mrs. Cammie Henry, owner of Melrose, gave his grandparents,
Blythe White Rand and Dr. Paul King Rand of Alexandria-- friends
of Mrs. Cammie's since the mid 1930's -- a one-hundred year lease
for $1.00 on a parcel of land for a fishing camp on Cane River.
The camp, named Happy Landing, was located just across the cotton
fields and down the road from Clementine's house. From the time
he was eight years old, until Mr. Jack was in his late teens,
he visited Melrose frequently with his grandmother -- sometimes
staying at Happy Landing for several weeks at a time -- and became
a good friend of both Clementine Hunter and Francois Mignon,
the resident guardian, care keeper, and director of social life
at Melrose. Mr. Jack maintained his friendship with Francois
until the latter's death in 1980 and is one of the few people
still alive today who was actually there during the early years
when Clementine first began painting.
Whitfield
Jack Jr.'s Family Connections With Melrose
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Mrs. Blythe Rand with Mrs. Cammie Henry at Melrose |
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Francois Mignon reminisces
about the Rand's camp at Melrose |
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Dr. Paul King Rand (right) shown with Francois Mignon (left) |
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Letter from Pat Henry to Whitfield Jack Jr. re picture at right |
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Blythe Rand (far
right) and Francois (2nd from left) Melrose, 1944 |
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Mr. Jack's uncles with former slave, "Uncle Israel"
Melrose c.1940 |
Go
to The Secret Paintings of Clementine Hunter - Part 2
Secrets Index
Vignettes of Melrose by Whitfield Jack, Jr.
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to read in sequence
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