Clementine Hunter: American Folk Artist Tapa dura - 1988

"As children, we used to go with my mom to the trailer, which was on our property, to bring Clementine paint and canvas. We had no idea her paintings would ever be worth anything. This was done as a favor for bringing her the materials. The thing that is the most fascinating to me in the painting is how big my mom, Mrs. William Brittain, looks. If you look at the photograph, she was not that big. Clementine would paint the person most important to her as the biggest person, thus my mom was largest in the picture."
--Marguerite "Cissy" Brittain Picou

Critics have described Clementine Hunter as everything from a primitive artist to a cultural historian, yet they all agree on one thing: Hunter's bold, colorful paintings offer a unique perspective. Each vivid painting captures the spirit and simplicity of Hunter's life in rural Louisiana, creating an honest visual history of Southern plantations during the early twentieth century.

To round out the colorful story told by Hunter's art, this compilation includes a detailed biography, letters from Hunter's close friend Franois Mignon, and commentary from Clementine Hunter herself. Covering topics that include money, marriage, bar fights, and "Black Jesus," Hunter's words offer a glimpse of the incredible woman behind the paintings--a woman who during her 101 years of life rose from cotton picking to international fame.