Collection Spotlight: Clementine Hunter's "Zinnia Bouquet"

In honor of #BlackHistoryMonth, we’re sharing the story of artist Clementine Hunter and her beautiful painting of zinnias-a recent addition to the Brandywine’s art collection.
Hunter, a Black woman artist, is known for her interpretations of African American life in the South rendered in the self-taught tradition.
Born in 1886, Hunter spent most of her life as a field hand and cook on a cotton plantation in Louisiana called Melrose. The plantation was also an artists’ colony in the 1930s, giving her access to paint and materials with which she taught herself how to paint, or, in her own words, “mark a picture.”
When her works were exhibited in the 1950s, segregation laws prevented her from entering the gallery where they were displayed. She eventually gained fame in the 1970s for her lively and brilliantly colored work.
Image: Clementine Hunter (1886 - 1988), Untitled (Zinnia Bouquet), ca. 1970. © artist, artist's estate, or other rights holders. bit.ly/39KQTP1