Melrose Quilt

Clementine Hunter was born on a Louisiana plantation where her grandparents had been slaves. When she was twelve, her family moved to Melrose Plantation in Natchitoches Parish to work as sharecroppers. Clementine worked as a field hand, cook, and housekeeper. The Henry family bought Melrose in 1884; they restored architectural structures on the property and moved historic log cabins from the area onto the property. When John Hampton Henry died, his wife Cammie made Melrose a retreat for visiting artists. Hunter’s exposure to artists and some leftover paints led her to own artistry. She painted quotidian stories she felt historians overlooked—primarily the activities of the black workers. She also made pictorial quilts. This one depicts several notable buildings at Melrose, including the Big House, Yucca House, and African House, in which Hunter painted a now-historic mural of plantation life in 1955.

Clementine Hunter's bold color choices harmonize with the shapes of the landscape. Her quilts, like her paintings, illustrate everyday stories she felt historians overlooked--especially those of Black workers in the South. Melrose Quilt depicts buildings at the Melrose plantation in Natchitoches Parish, in Central Louisiana, where Hunter and her family moved to work as sharecroppers. She represents the Big House in the center, Yucca House above, and African House at bottom right, where in 1955 Hunter painted a mural of plantation life.

At the plantation, Hunter worked first as a field hand and later as a cook and housekeeper. When the owner of Melrose died, his wife made the plantation a retreat for visiting artists. Hunter's exposure to artists there and her resourcefulness with leftover paints led to the beginning of her artistic practice.