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New Louisville museum exhibition highlights Helen LaFrance's 'memory paintings'
Helen LaFrance was best known for her "memory paintings" depicting2 Black life in rural Kentucky. Now there are hopes her work will receive wider recognition with a retrospective in Louisville.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Helen LaFrance painted her memories. She painted Black rural life in western Kentucky, which means that her memory paintings, as they're called, capture some of the diversity of American rural life. Stephanie Wolf of our member station WFPL reports.
STEPHANIE WOLF, BYLINE3: Over and over again, Helen LaFrance brought scenes from her past to life with colorful, bold brushstrokes, scenes like this one painting of a picnic at a Black church in a small Kentucky town. Congregants are dressed in their finest. A field of bright, yellow wheat lines the horizon. Young children holding hands form a circle. She uses the kind of skewed perspective that makes her work expressive4, lively.
BRUCE SHELTON: This woman is an American treasure.
WOLF: That's gallerist Bruce Shelton, who worked with LaFrance for decades. He puts LaFrance on par5 with the likes of Grandma Moses, another self-taught folk artist who found acclaim6 for documenting rural living in vibrant7 paintings. LaFrance died in late 2020 at 101. During her lifetime, her work was celebrated8 locally and regionally. Museums in Kentucky and St. Louis have her paintings in their permanent collections. But Shelton and others hope a show spanning her career at the Speed Art Museum in Louisville will introduce her to a larger audience.
SHELTON: It takes something like this going on at the Speed, somebody to see this artist in her entirety. And curators will see it. Collectors will see it. A young child's life may be changed by going in there and seeing this exhibit.
WOLF: LaFrance told PBS member station KET in 1997 that painting was a way of reliving her childhood.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
HELEN LAFRANCE: Oh, I just get to thinking about something. And I said, well, I remember how that was. I believe I'll put it on paper or canvas or whatever.
WOLF: LaFrance was born in 1919 in southwestern Kentucky. Her father farmed. She and her sisters helped in the fields. LaFrance's mother encouraged her toward art, teaching her how to draw and mix colors. She stayed close to home most of her life, working different jobs - a hospital cook or making bottles at a ceramic9 factory. In the 1980s, she devoted10 more time to painting and began to sell her work.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
LAFRANCE: I never did quit trying to paint and trying to draw. I always thought someday I'll have time to do something worthwhile.
WOLF: There's a hint of darkness in LaFrance's work. She was a child when the Great Depression hit and grew up as a Black woman in Kentucky with Jim Crow laws.
WANDA STUBBLEFIELD: Miss Helen had a strong belief about that evil part of life, which - I don't think she would ever painted something that was so evil.
WOLF: That's close friend Wanda Stubblefield. She helped care for LaFrance in her later years and says LaFrance didn't talk much about her art or her process.
STUBBLEFIELD: I think it's just things that she saw that struck her interest that she wanted to paint.
WOLF: One of LaFrance's earliest public works is a mural of Jesus praying at the St. James AME Church in Mayfield, Ky., the town where LaFrance lived until her death. Last December, tornadoes11 devastated12 western Kentucky communities, including downtown Mayfield. The few parts of the St. James AME Church still upright include the front doors and LaFrance's mural.
(SOUNDBITE OF TARP BEING REMOVED)
WOLF: Today, a worker removes a tarp that has been protecting the mural from the elements and ongoing13 construction. Kristy Lawson is a church member. Her mother was raised by LaFrance as if she were her own child. Lawson believes the mural remaining intact was an act of God.
KRISTY LAWSON: He knew Granny's heart. He knew what she wanted to do, what she meant to everybody.
WOLF: Lawson says LaFrance was kind, giving, a woman of faith.
LAWSON: She'll get up 5 or 6 in the morning, start her day with her Bible, or go around see - look how her gardens are doing, the pond. She was just very nature. That's something God created, so why not enjoy it?
WOLF: LaFrance was beloved in this community. That's the message from church steward14 Thomas Bright. He says that's why it's important to restore and preserve this mural. He finds it inspiring to see LaFrance getting more recognition, including by the Speed Art Museum.
THOMAS BRIGHT: A lot of our history is lost, and we have a lot of local heroes that go unsung. And that's why she should be remembered for that and recognized.
WOLF: The mural, the museum retrospective - family and friends think Helen LaFrance would be surprised by all of this attention. She never considered herself something grand, one person tells me. LaFrance painted into her 90s but never considered herself a professional artist. It was just something she loved to do.
For NPR News, I'm Stephanie Wolf, in Mayfield, Ky.
1 transcript | |
n.抄本,誊本,副本,肄业证书 | |
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2 depicting | |
描绘,描画( depict的现在分词 ); 描述 | |
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3 byline | |
n.署名;v.署名 | |
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4 expressive | |
adj.表现的,表达…的,富于表情的 | |
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5 par | |
n.标准,票面价值,平均数量;adj.票面的,平常的,标准的 | |
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6 acclaim | |
v.向…欢呼,公认;n.欢呼,喝彩,称赞 | |
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7 vibrant | |
adj.震颤的,响亮的,充满活力的,精力充沛的,(色彩)鲜明的 | |
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8 celebrated | |
adj.有名的,声誉卓著的 | |
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9 ceramic | |
n.制陶业,陶器,陶瓷工艺 | |
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10 devoted | |
adj.忠诚的,忠实的,热心的,献身于...的 | |
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11 tornadoes | |
n.龙卷风,旋风( tornado的名词复数 ) | |
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12 devastated | |
v.彻底破坏( devastate的过去式和过去分词);摧毁;毁灭;在感情上(精神上、财务上等)压垮adj.毁坏的;极为震惊的 | |
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13 ongoing | |
adj.进行中的,前进的 | |
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14 steward | |
n.乘务员,服务员;看管人;膳食管理员 | |
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