Fine & Outsider Art

GODIE, Lee (American, 1908-1994). Mother and Daughter. Circa 1980s-1994. Multi-media on found window canvas. 52 x 21 ½”. Canvas mounted onto a matted and framed (frame size: 56 ¼ x 24 ¾”). Stitch-holes visible at upper and lower margins, some stray threads at edges. Signed near the upper left corner just near the figure’s mouth (“Artist Lee Godie”), and at the lower left corner (Godie would usually sign in 2 places, because she would cut her artwork in half if the buyer didn’t have enough cash for the entire work). Not examined out of frame, but there is an unfinished pen drawing on the verso of this canvas. A fine, unusually large example of this important Outsider Artist’s work. Beginning her art career by selling her artwork on the steps of the Art Institute of Chicago (which she stopped doing when the curator intervened), she would create art with whatever discarded items she found interesting (canvas, poster board, even discarded window blinds). Her art featured “archetypal characters... part cultural icon, part personal symbolism” (David Syrek, artist and design editor at the Chicago Tribune), and her work has been displayed at the Chicago Cultural Center, The Museum of American Folk Art (New York city), the Milwaukee Art Museum, and others. Provenance: purchased directly from the artist.