This exhibition explores the life and work of Clementine Hunter, one of the most important self-taught American artists of the twentieth century. Hunter, who referred to painting as “marking,” produced thousands of images drawn from her experiences working and living on Melrose Plantation in Louisiana’s Cane River region. More than fifty artworks from the Louisiana State Museum collection, including one of the artist’s coveted quilts, will be on display.

While Hunter is best-known for her idyllic representations of African American and Creole life in rural Louisiana, this exhibit will feature several rarely seen abstract images she painted in the early 1960s. It will also include one of the many forgeries inspired by the increasing popularity of her work.