Talking With Tebe: Clementine Hunter, Memory Artist (Hardcover)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: Cammie Henry, Cane River, African House (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 4 Up-Clementine Hunter was an African-American primitive painter who lived all of her 101 years in Louisiana as a manual laborer. Born in 1886, she began painting late in her life. Although untrained, she created works of art now owned by many American museums. The story of her life and art is fascinating, and Lyons has let Tebe, as she was called, tell it in her own words, culled from taped interviews and magazine and newspaper articles. Each short chapter is a well-put-together collection of her pithy comments on some facet of her daily life on Melrose Plantation ("My People," "Housework," "Field Work," etc.). Hunter's bright, colorful, childlike paintings and a handful of black-and-white photographs decorate the book and illuminate her words. The result is an attractive and appealing volume. Its strength is its wonderful depiction of an extraordinary individual who could not read or write, who lived in the same place all of her life, but was nationally known and respected. The book would serve every collection as an excellent biography of a strong woman, as insight into an artist's vision and work, and as a unique slice of Southern history.
Judith Constantinides, East Baton Rouge Parish Main Library, LA
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Gr. 7^-12. Like Lyons' illustrated biographies of African American artists Harriet Powers and Horace Pippin, this is as much about social history as about painting. in this book, Lyons acts as editor, quoting extensively from taped interviews and articles so that artist Hunter speaks in her own voice ("Paintings catch memories a-crossing my mind. Pictures of the hard part of living. The easy parts, too, like fishing and dancing"). Clementine Hunter (aka Tebe ) was the first self-taught African American woman folk artist to receive national attention. Her fine paintings are reproduced in full color, some small, a few full-page, and, like her words, they show and tell a manual laborer's story: what it was like to work in the fields and in the kitchen of the big house a century ago, what it was like to be a wife and a mother and a member of a close Creole community in northwest Louisiana. Lyons' brief, unobtrusive captions about subject and technique help you appreciate the visual images. Hunter was illiterate, but the combination of her pictures and her confident, direct, unpretentious idiom makes for a vivid personal narrative. Hazel Rochman

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9-12
  
• Hardcover: 48 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children; Library Binding edition (September 28, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0395720311
• ISBN-13: 978-0395720318
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 8.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #472,901 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Talking With Tebe, August 30, 2000

By	Judi Petkau "petka001" (Minneapolis, MN USA) - See all my reviews

As a teacher of k-12 art I value this resource. Hunter's life is facinating and her story is important for kids to hear. The author writes in Hunter's voice, creating an intimate conversation. Other older sources I've found about this artist's life are presented in way that could be percieved as patronizing. Lyons presents racial issues in a direct way I really appreciated and helped me when working with students. Hunter's paintings express her life - using images with deeper interpretations than just quaint naive pictures. Her personal dignity and creative spirit are an inspiration to us all. Lyons includes a good balance of historic photos and reproduced artwork. I recomend also checking out other books by Lyons focusing on non-mainstream American artists.

5.0 out of 5 stars A classic about Clementine, May 31, 2008

By	Fran Lee Stop (Austin, TX USA) - See all my reviews

This book is written as though the primitive artist Clementine Hunter is telling her story. It sounds just so! And the illustrative examples of Clementine's artwork are fitting and wonderful to see.