Window Shade

Attributed to

Hunter, Clementine, American, ca. 1886 - 1988

Subject of

Melrose Plantation, American, founded 1832

Medium

oil paint on canvas roller shade

Dimensions

H x W x D (painting): 42 × 35 7/8 in. (106.7 × 91.1 cm)

H x W (framed): 48 × 43 3/8 in. (121.9 × 110.2 cm)

Type

oil paintings

Classification

Visual Arts

Place depicted

Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana, United States, North and Central America

Date

1950s

Description

An oil painting painted directly onto a roller window shade. The painting depicts scenes of plantation and pastoral life in Louisiana in vignettes that run across the surface in horizontal bands. The shade is mostly, but not completely, retracted. The shade is shadowbox framed, with the canvas stapled and glued to the backing board along the top edge, and glued at the bottom edge. At the top of the painting a strip of blue depicts the sky. Below the sky are two horizontal rows of figures picking cotton, four people in each row, interspersed with trees. A grey house with a fence is depicted to the right of the figures. There is a slight gap, below which are another three rows of horizontal scenes. The top row begins with a green house at the left. A line of seven people are walking out of the house towards a white church at the right. A person in a yellow dress is standing at the bottom of the church steps. The next row depicts a mule-drawn cart with three people inside, two holding parasols, and a row of five people standing to the right of the mule. In the bottom row are five trees. The painting is signed at the lower right corner.

Topic

American South

Art

Domestic life

Rural life

Credit Line

Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of the Rand and Dana Jack family, in honor of Rand's grandmother, Blythe Rand, who early recognized and supported the special talents of Clementine Hunter

Object number

2014.176.1

Restrictions & Rights

© Cane River Art Corporation