Native Louisianan Clementine Hunter (1887-1988) spent the first 50 years of her life picking cotton and attending to the "Big House" on Melrose Plantation in central Louisiana.

Then, one day, she gathered some discarded paint tubes and began to record her life and culture on canvas. Child-like imagery of picking cotton, scrub boards, river baptisisms, pecan threshing and honky tonks are all elements often found in Clementine's work.

She painted strictly for her own enjoyment, but the impact of her creative efforts reached far beyond the borders of Melrose Plantation. Today, Clementine's paintings are highly revered as accurate historic views of a Southern life and culture that contributed mightily to American history.