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in her lifetime, Hunter became one of the most important black folk artists of the 20th century.
Artist
Clementine Hunter
(1886 - 1988)
Cotton Picking
Date1970-1980
MediumOil on cardboard
DimensionsFramed: 19 3/8 × 25 3/16 × 1 1/4 in. (49.2 × 64 × 3.2 cm)
Object numberN0103.1991
Credit LineCollection of the Fenimore Art Museum. Gift of Dorothea & Leo Rabkin
Photograph by Richard Walker
Label TextThe inspiration for Clementine Hunter’s works stems from memories of plantation life, church, and recreation. Cotton Picking details workers laboring in a field, picking cotton by hand. Although Hunter was born two decades after the Civil War, her grandparents were both enslaved. She spent most of her life working as a field hand and cook at Melrose Plantation near Natchitoches, Louisiana. Though her work was unknown in her lifetime, Hunter became one of the most important black folk artists of the 20th century.
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