Clementine Hunter (American, 1886-1988) Baptismal, 1950s Oil on board Gift of Larry Wayne Richards and Frederic Urban 2019.30
Clementine Hunter was a self-taught, African-American artist
known for her naïve and colorful paintings of rural, southern
life. Born to a Creole family on a Louisiana plantation some 20
years after the Civil War ended, Hunter’s paintings often
included images inspired by Christianity and offer a glimpse
into the creative minds and lives of people often
underrepresented in art history. This oil on board painting is
small and depicts a baptism ceremony being performed on a
sunny day outside a country church in a composition divided
into two registers. Like many outsider artists, Hunter frequently
turned to religion for inspiration.