Exhibitions

Born Jamot Emily Godie in 1908 in Chicago.
Died in 1994 in Plano.

www.hammergallery.com

Lee Godie, who was a street dweller, was one of the most familiar figures on the artistic scene in Chicago, where she sold her drawings on the steps of the Art Institute for over twenty years. She had always been mysterious about her origins, but one fine day in the 60s she just popped up and claimed she was a “French Impressionist”. Her work consists mainly of portraits, painted in oil or drawn in pastel, felt pen or coloured pencils on the canvas of old blinds. Almost always seen front on, on a background which has been cleaned till it shines, as the saying goes, sometimes decorated with foliage or birds, or evoking a well-known location in town, her most common subjects are a human face with blond hair as well as countless self-portraits, sometimes completed with collages or identity photos taken in a photo booth. These snapshots, where the artist really does put herself front of stage, are generally enhanced with pencil strokes to act as a sort of make-up or compose just a few words. 

Lee Godie’s work is mainly housed in the collections of the American Folk Art Museum in New York, the Museum of Contemporary Art and the Intuit Museum in Chicago.