Clementine Hunter  (1886 - 1988)

periods after C.H.
Does anyone know if C. Hunter signed any of her paintings with periods after the C. and the H.? I found a painting that appears to be a C.H. but with periods after the letters. If someone checks this site could you let me know. Thanks, Ron.

C Hunter "Blackbirds" painting
I recently purchased an oil painting by Clementine Hunter, a dream come true for me. I have loved her work since I first saw a painting around the early 70s when I was a teenager. The painting is of a person in what appears to be flower patterned pajamas, standing near a large flower bush and next to it is a pole with a birdhouse that looks like a church with a cross on the top. Above the birdhouse are about 7 blackbirds flying. There is a small cabin on the right and a scene with a man on the left side. Does anyone know anything about this subject? Also, I noticed it is sealed with a lacquer of some sort. Is this a common practice? Did she seal some of her paintings this way? Please contact me if you have any knowledge about this.

Clementine Hunter
In the early 70's I went with my mother to visit Clementine at her home. My mother did beautiful crochet and the two of them would exchange their works of art. I have several of Clementine's that were my mother's and there is one that I have not seen as a repeated theme. Clementine called it Uncle Tom's Cabin. Is anyone else familar with this theme?

Clementine Hunter
My grandparents were very good friends of her. She painted some pictures and gave them to my grandparents. Her art was very simple and interesting at the same time. She was born in a time where she was not educated. It think my Dad told me she couldn't read or write but don't quote me. She was a wonderful person and she visited my grandparents on occassion. My Dad has them now and I love the one that she painted of the clothes line. She used wood to paint her art.

Quilt & Paintings
My Great-Grandmother was Carmelite Henry, owner of Melrose Plantation. She encourged Clementine to paint. Her earliest works are with her initials CH, but later changed the C to face backwards because she didn't want people to confuse her work from my Great Grandmother's. Even later in her life she started signing the backwards C through the H. This is how you can tell the approximate age of her work. I was fortunate enough not only to meet her, but was able to record her on tape of stories about my family. She used to change my Dad's diapers. I have several paintings and a large quilt, made from paper bags as a backing, I inherited from my father & aunt's estate. I have a picture of her and I together with me holding a painting she painted for me of her and my Great Grandmother working in the flower bed. All items are Priceless to me.

painting on tile
i have a tile painting by clementine hunter. before firing it appears to have been painted on either tissue or rice paper. i'm very courious about any familar pieces .it's of picking pecans with a young boy hanging from his legs in a tree. very simular to the oil on canvas of picking pecans

Clementine Hunter
On our vacation one summer in the late 60's, my father was driving along and saw a sign out in front of a shack that said "Oil Paintings For Sale." He stopped, went in the house while we all waited in the car, and came out with a wet painting of a vase of zinnias. He had paid three dollars for it. My mother was livid that he had spent the money on a painting that "a child could have done" and that it was wet and now we had to get it back home. My father was so angry with her that he put the painting in the attic when we got back home. Years later he read about a famous painter named Clementine Hunter from around Natchitoches. He retrieved the painting from the attic, and sure enough there was the signature, the backward C and an H. After that, the painting hung in the house. I just wonder how much it is worth today. Does anyone know how to get it appraised?

Clementine Hunter
I can remember going to Melrose to get a painting for my mother when I was in college at Northwestern State in the sixties. I chose a painting of a black Jesus on the cross with an angel above him. It is very simple, but well cared for and a favorite of mine now framed as an icon by our local museum here in Portland, Maine. Clementine herself came to the old screen door and very proudly showed her work to us and told us why she liked to paint. I will never forget that day. I have many old articles written about her from many years ago that I have saved. If interested I will copy them and send.