''Untitled'' is a painting by

Clementine Hunter Clementine Hunter (pronounced Clementeen) (late December 1886 or early January 1887 – January 1, 1988) was a self-taught Black folk artist from the Cane River region of Louisiana, who lived and worked on Melrose Plantation. Hunter was born ...

. It is in the collection of the

National Museum of Women in the Arts The National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA), located in Washington, D.C., is "the first museum in the world solely dedicated" to championing women through the arts. NMWA was incorporated in 1981 by Wallace and Wilhelmina Holladay. Since openin ...

(NMWA) in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. It is a rare self-portrait by an artist who usually depicted everyday life on the

plantation A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...

s that she lived on in Louisiana.

Description

''Untitled'' is a

self-portrait A self-portrait is a representation of an artist that is drawn, painted, photographed, or sculpted by that artist. Although self-portraits have been made since the earliest times, it is not until the Early Renaissance in the mid-15th century tha ...

by Hunter. Keeping with many of her paintings, the painting is a landscape work, with a cloudy sky on the top and a tree and flowers growing from the bottom. An

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

woman stands in the middle with a blue dress and her hands outstretched with a bouquet of roses. She faces a cut out, from an exhibition brochure from 1974, that features a photograph of the artist. Hunter's signature is on the lower proper left.

History

Hunter created this work in 1981. It was gifted to the National Museum of Women in the Arts by Evelyn M. Shambaugh.

Interpretation

''Untitled'' is a rare self-portrait by Hunter. Curators at the NMWA interpret the painted woman in the artwork as showing respect to the artist for the success she has gained.

References

1981 paintings Paintings by Clementine Hunter {{20C-painting-stub