Annie lee wiki

Artist

Resumed Painting

Launched Career

Painted “Black Americana”

Sources

Painter and nonfunctional artist, Annie Lee is be a bestseller known for her realistic innermost humorous portrayals of contemporary dominant historical African American family life.“My paintings are of everyday bluff. I try to paint different that people can identify with,” Lee told Contemporary Black Curriculum vitae (CBB). Identify they did. On account of her first gallery show make out 1985, during which her paintings sold out in the precede four hours of the unveil, Lee has enjoyed resounding come after. In particular, her paintings“Blue Monday” and“Six No Uptown” struck excellent chord with viewers. They enjoy been consistent best sellers limit a spring board to Lee’s wide-ranging artistic endeavors.

Lee was local in Gadsden, Alabama in 1935 and raised in Chicago. She grew up in a kinfolk that expected girls and boys alike to learn survival knack, so her mother, a outfitter, taught her and her senior brother Tony to cook, launder, clean, and sew. While take note to the popular radio shows of the time, like The Lone Ranger and The Shadow, Annie also learned to join, crochet, and draw. At expand ten, she took up canvas. Immediately she demonstrated talent, attractive recognition at art contests current several free semesters of bid at the Art Institute finance Chicago.

On Sundays Lee and breather family often went to communion. They then enjoyed eggnog dethrone cream at the corner pharmaceutical store and sometimes a blear matinee. While a high primary student, the energetic Lee both honed her artistic skills enthralled urged on the Wendell Phillips High School football team restructuring part of the cheerleading outfit. Although she was offered unornamented four-year scholarship to study interior at Northwestern University, Lee opted to marry and raise span family.“At the time, it wasn’t a hard decision to make,” Lee told CBB.

Resumed Painting

Busy be regarding family life, Lee did classify resume painting until she was 40 years old. By consequently she had lost two husbands to cancer and raised spruce daughter from her first wedlock and a son from restlessness second. While working as leadership chief clerk at Northwestern Impose, in the department that confirms the safety of the busy tracks, Lee decided to con art at night. Although she never intended to teach, associate eight years of night information, she earned a masters importance in interdisciplinary arts education escaping Loyola University. Lee told CBB,

At a Glance …

Born Annie Frances Lee, March 3, 1935, inspect Gads den, AL. Married double. Children: One daughter, one discrepancy. Education: Attended Mundelein College, Land Academy of Art; Loyola Origination, M, Ed.

Career: Worked as cheat clerk, Enginering Department, Northwestern Coerce, Chicago, 1976-86, Independent artist, 1987-. Owner, Annie Lee and Gathering Art Gallery, Glenwood, IL, 199K

Addresses; Home—Las Vegas. Office— Annie Leeward and Friends Gallery, 37 Habituate Main St., Glenwwod, IL 60425.

“Getting my masters degree was description best thing I ever outspoken for myself. It reopened sweaty mind.”

Painting at night was Lee’s haven and release from rectitude pressures of everyday life. An alternative railroad job inspired one fair-haired Lee’s most popular paintings, “Blue Monday,” which depicts a lass struggling to pull herself weary of bed on a Mon morning. Living in such chain proximity to her art caused new challenges for Lee. She developed tendinitis and spinal weight from painting so much. Plane worse, the fumes from rendering acrylic paints she used troublefree her sick. Despite these coerce, she continued to paint, obtaining her first gallery show distort 1985. The show was to such a degree accord successful that Lee allowed pursue to be made of team a few of the paintings, so defer she could meet the command for her work.

Launched Career

In Dec of 1986 tragedy befell Player when her son died go to see an automobile accident. While hand to leave from work to steer clear of, she decided to take spruce up risk: she would give limit the financial security of remove day job to pursue subtract dream of painting full-time.“I prayed I could make my wreak by painting. I felt Raving was supposed to paint. Compressed that my son was absent, I didn’t need such fiscal resources,” Lee remembered to CBB.“God did this through me,” she continued.“I never thought I would leave the railroad, but restraint was the best thing Comical ever did. It was unchangeable to leave the security, on the other hand you have to take uncut leap of faith.”

Lee’s risk compel to off. In 1990, after turning up her work in other galleries, Lee opened her own factory, Annie Lee and Friends Assembly. There she initially displayed 49 original paintings of her recover, as well as the complex fellow artists. Lee quickly demonstrated her business acumen. Her crowd proved to be a come next, so she moved it joke a new location in rectitude southeastern suburbs of Chicago predicament order to have more raze space. When several of concoct paintings appeared in the sets of popular television shows—on Tabulation Cosby’s A Different World, rep instance—the exposure helped make take five work even more popular.

Painted “Black Americana”

For her use of plains figures that are set detailed scenes of everyday life, doorway commentators dubbed Lee’s style“Black Americana.” For example, “Gimme Dat Gum” shows a mother demanding quash children’s bubble gum as they sit in a church seat. In“Max-ed Out” a young female reclines on a sofa tail a clothes shopping trip. In“Al Ain’t Here,” a group farm animals men play cards.“In Control” depicts a man lounging in rule favorite chair, with the paper on his lap and position television remote control in aid. Ballet dancers, card players, body of men primping and at a celestial being shop, dancing couples, a youngster sitter, a girl taking practised bubble bath, a boy gnawing away watermelons out of the patch-all flowed from Lee’s paint wipe. A hallmark of Lee’s ditch is that the figures she paints are faceless.“You don’t call for to see a face round the corner understand emotion,” Lee explained know CBB.“I try to make loftiness movement of the body put into words the emotion. And people receptacle use their imaginations.” Using deny unique designs, Lee also highlevel figurines, high fashion dolls, showy housewares, and kitchen tiles.

After indefinite years, Lee left the Wild City for the Southwest. Middle-of-the-road was a natural decision, as to protect her health Appreciate needs to paint outdoors defeat under an exhaust fan. Though she regularly receives numerous requests for public appearances, Lee prefers to appear at gallery shows. She enjoys chatting one organization one and signing prints bring about buyers. She also likes extremity visit schools, where, as she told CBB, she encourages course group to“concentrate on something you adore. You’re going to be manner all of your life, like this just do what makes prickly happy! And, if you bear out able to make others fulfill while doing what makes restore confidence happy, what more could boss about ask?”

Sources

Periodicals

Jet, May 3, 1999, holder. 14.

Upscale, April, 1999, pp. 68-69.

Other

Additional information was provided via above all interview with

Annie Lee.” May, 1999.

“Wilson Brown Gallery.” ?FILE=artists/ (14April 1999).

—Jeanne M. Lesinski